The United States “fundamentally rejects” the International Criminal Court’s determination to concern arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the White House mentioned on Thursday.
In a landmark transfer, the courtroom within the Hague introduced earlier within the day it had issued arrest warrants over struggle crimes it accuses Netanyahu and Gallant of finishing up in Palestinian territories, together with Gaza.
“We remain deeply concerned by the Prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision. The United States has been clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter,” a National Security Council spokesperson mentioned.
The assertion made no point out of an ICC arrest warrant additionally issued for Mohammed Deif, the army chief of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
Mike Waltz, the incoming nationwide safety advisor below U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, defended Israel and promised a “strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC & U.N. come January.”
“The ICC has no credibility and these allegations have been refuted by the US government,” Waltz mentioned on social media platform X.
His feedback mirrored a wider outrage amongst Republicans, with some calling for the U.S. Senate to sanction the ICC, which counts 124 nationwide members who’re in principle obliged to arrest people topic to warrants.
Neither the United States nor Israel is a member of the ICC and each have rejected its jurisdiction.
Israel has been relentlessly bombing Gaza since Oct. 7 final yr after Hamas’ cross-border assault. It has killed at the very least 44,056 folks in additional than 13 months of struggle. The United Nations considers the figures dependable.
The Hague-based courtroom mentioned Thursday that the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant have been issued “for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024.”
It mentioned it “found reasonable grounds” to imagine that the 2 bear prison duty for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”
It additionally believes that each “bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.”
A warrant was additionally issued for Deif, whom Israel claimed was killed in an air strike in Gaza in July, however Hamas has not confirmed his loss of life.
Human rights teams rejoiced and lots of nations hailed the ICC determination, whereas some disagreed, together with Argentina.
President Javier Milei mentioned Argentina “declares its deep disagreement” with the choice, which it says “ignores” Israel’s proper to defend itself.
Milei has offered himself as an in depth ally of Israel, visiting the nation in February and saying plans to maneuver the Argentinian embassy to Jerusalem.
The president grew up Catholic however has displayed an enthusiasm for orthodox Jewish thought, repeatedly consulting with a rabbi and describing himself final yr as a “Torah scholar.”
Argentina has the biggest Jewish group in Latin America.
Source: www.dailysabah.com