How US politicians responded to Netanyahu’s ICC arrest warrant
Al Jazeera
Biden administration ‘fundamentally rejects’ decision as lawmakers issue threats and call for sanctions against court.
Washington, DC – When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke in front of the United States Congress earlier this year, the lawmakers stood up and clapped for him dozens of times.
Now that he is a formally suspected war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the adoration he received in Washington, DC, in July from US politicians is turning into anger and threats against the Hague-based tribunal.
ICC pre-trial judges issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for charges of using starvation as a method of warfare as well as the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.
The court found that there were reasonable grounds that the Israeli siege of Gaza “created conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population”.
With a few exceptions, US politicians from both major parties expressed outrage at the court’s decision, with many questioning the court’s legitimacy.
