Washington denounces the arrest warrant requested by the ICC prosecutor against Benjamin Netanyahu

A decision “scandalous“. The American president, Israel’s main ally, criticized on Monday May 20 the arrest warrants requested by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli leaders in a terse press release.

The accusations brought by the prosecutor against the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant concern several alleged war crimes such as “deliberately starving civilians“, “intentional homicide” And “extermination and/or murder“. “I will be clear: whatever the prosecutor insinuates, there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas, there is noasserted Joe Biden. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”

For his part, Secretary of State Antony Blinken considered that the prosecutor’s request “could compromise“Gaza ceasefire talks.”Hamas is a violent terrorist organization that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and is still holding dozens of innocent people hostage, including Americans“, he added. Furthermore, the ICC has “no jurisdiction” on Israel, continued Antony Blinken. Neither Tel Aviv nor Washington are members of the ICC.

Despite these criticisms, the United States will continue to “bring [leur soutien à la CPI] regarding crimes committed in Ukraine“, underlined the head of the Pentagon Lloyd Austin. The Court had issued in 2023 an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin, accused of the war crime of illegal expulsion of Ukrainian children.