Biden administration 'fundamentally rejects' ICC warrant for Netanyahu
Biden administration 'fundamentally rejects' ICC warrant for Netanyahu
Incoming Republican officials warned of a much tougher line when it comes to the court and other international institutions
The White House issued a brief but definitive response to the International Criminal Court’s warrants for Israeli officials, saying it “fundamentally rejects” the decision but ignored addressing the substance of the warrants.
“The United States has been clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter. In coordination with partners, including Israel, we are discussing next steps.”
The administration of President Joe Biden has long warned against any such moves by the court after its chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced in May that he would, in fact, be seeking the arrest warrants.
In a statement at the time, Biden called the notion “outrageous”.
You're viewing a single thread.
-
Just so people can understand why the ICC claims jurisdiction, it is because the Palestinian Authority acting as the State of Palestine acceded to the Rome Statute of the ICC and thus became a state party in 2015. They pretty much did this with the express intention to give the ICC jurisdiction over alleged Israeli war crimes in occupied Palestinian territories. In 2019, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda requested a ruling on the question of ICC jurisdiction in Palestine. In 2021 the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber ruled that Palestine's accession to the Rome Statute gave it jurisdiction over Palestinian territories occupied by Israeli forces (a.k.a. the West Bank and Gaza Strip).
Lebanon is not and has never been a state party or signatory, for those curious. Israel and the US are signatories but refused to ratify the treaty, and thus aren't state parties. Nonetheless, the ICC had decided that crimes committed in countries who have acceded or ratified its statute, or accepted its jurisdiction, are subject to ICC regardless of the citizenship or residency of the alleged perpetrators. This is also why it issued arrest warrants against Vladimir Putin despite neither Russia nor Ukraine being state parties; Ukraine accepted ICC jurisdiction on an ad hoc basis for crimes committed during the Russian invasion.