"There is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas," US President Joe Biden said after the International Criminal Court requested arrest warrants for Israeli leaders.
Sharp reaction of the US to the decision of the International Criminal Court regarding Israel
On 20 May, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) requested the issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Galant. US President Joe Biden reacted sharply to this event.
US President Joe Biden was outraged by the issuance of arrest warrants for high-ranking Israeli officials and declared his steadfast support for Jerusalem.
The ICC prosecutor's request for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor means, there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas. We will always support Israel against threats to its security.
Joe Biden
President of the USA
Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, threatened that the US Congress could take any measures, including sanctions, if the ICC approves the issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The ICC has no authority over Israel or the United States, and today’s baseless and illegitimate decision should face global condemnation. International bureaucrats cannot be allowed to use lawfare to usurp the authority of democratic nations that maintain the rule of law.…
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) May 20, 2024
Congress is considering all options, including imposing sanctions, to punish the ICC and ensure its leadership faces consequences if they approve. If the ISS is allowed to threaten the leadership of Israel, then the leadership of our country will be next.
Johnson stressed that this ICC "does not have authority over Israel or the United States", so the decision of his prosecutor to seek the issuance of a warrant for Netanyahu's arrest "is illegitimate and deserves international condemnation".
What will Israel do after the decision of the ICC
The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Israel Katz, ordered the creation of a special center in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs aimed at fighting against the decision.
The outrageous decision of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague is an unrestrained frontal attack on the victims of the 7 October terrorist attack and our 128 hostages in Gaza. While Hamas murderers and rapists commit crimes against humanity against our brothers and sisters, the prosecutor mentions Israel's Prime Minister and Defence Minister alongside the vile Nazi monsters of Hamas - a historic disgrace that we will remember forever. I have instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to immediately set up a special command centre with all the professional structures to fight against the decision, which is designed primarily to tie Israel's hands and prevent it from exercising its right to self-defence.
He also expressed his intention to speak to the foreign ministers of the world's leading countries to urge them to oppose the prosecutor's decision and to state that “even if the warrants are issued, they do not intend to use them against Israeli leaders”.
No power in the world will prevent us from returning all our hostages and overthrowing the terrorist regime of Hamas.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the ICC prosecutor's decision outrageous and "shows how much the international judicial system is in danger of collapsing." In his opinion, such a move inspires terrorists around the world and violates all the basic rules of the court.
What is known about the arrest warrants for the Prime Minister of Israel and the leaders of Hamas
As noted, the prosecutor's office has gathered evidence to bring to justice the commander of Hamas's combat wing, Mohammed Deif, the leader of the movement's apolitical wing, Ismail Haniyeh, and the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yahoo Sinwar, who is called the organiser of the militants' attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.
Deifa that day announced a military operation against Israel called "Al-Aqsa Storm".
All three are considered responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of Israel and in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023 by Hamas militants.
The list of crimes includes numerous attacks on civilians, torture, rape, and others. They are accused of killing hundreds of Israelis in the settlements of Kfar Az, Nir Oz, Nahal Oz, Beeri and at the Supernova music festival, as well as taking at least 245 hostages who were taken to the Gaza Strip.
Khan's office believes that the named Hamas leaders are responsible for planning the attacks and inciting war crimes.
As for the Israeli leaders, Yoav Galant and Benjamin Netanyahu are criminally responsible for using starvation as a method of warfare, intentional injury to health, premeditated murder, attacks on the civilian population of Gaza and other crimes against humanity. All charges relate to the Israeli army's military operation in the Gaza Strip, which began in response to a Hamas attack,’ the Attorney General's Office said.
