President Joe Biden forcefully denounced the International Criminal Court’s “outrageous” arrest warrant application against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defense minister Yoav Gallant on Monday.
“Let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas,” Biden said in a brief statement. “We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”
Earlier Monday, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced his intention to apply for an arrest warrant for the two Israeli leaders, as well as a separate warrant for three Hamas officials. Khan seeks to hold both sides accountable for their alleged war crimes — Israel for its ongoing military campaign in Gaza, and Hamas for its October 7 attack.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also offered a statement on behalf of the Biden administration, saying Khan’s “equivalence of Israel with Hamas . . . is shameful.”
“Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and is still holding dozens of innocent people hostage, including Americans,” Blinken said.
The U.S. cabinet official added that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Israel-Hamas war, as the international tribunal “was established by its state parties as a court of limited jurisdiction.” Blinken also raised concerns regarding Khan’s upcoming trip to Israel, which his staff was traveling to Israel on Monday to coordinate. Khan’s trip was expected to occur as early as next week.
“Fundamentally, this decision does nothing to help, and could jeopardize, ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement that would get hostages out and surge humanitarian assistance in, which are the goals the United States continues to pursue relentlessly,” Blinken concluded.
Hours prior to the Biden administration’s statements, both Israel and Hamas likewise condemned the arrest warrants sought against their most senior leaders.
The charges against Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, and Ismail Haniyeh include “extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape and sexual assault in detention,” Khan said, referring to Hamas’s October 7 attack.
The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict,” according to Khan.