Joe Biden criticizes ICC request for arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, calling it ‘outrageous’

President Joe Biden called the International Criminal Court’s decision to seek an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “outrageous.”

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants for Mr Netanyahu and the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip for war crimes.

Karim Khan said on Monday he believed Mr Netanyahu, his defence minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders – Yehia Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh – were responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza Strip and in Israel over their actions during the seven-month war between Israel and Hamas.

The prosecutor must apply for the orders to a three-judge panel, which takes an average of two months to consider the evidence and decide whether the proceedings can continue.

Reacting to the news, Mr Biden said: “The request by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders is outrageous.

“And let me make this clear: Whatever this prosecutor may suggest, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.

“We will always support Israel in the fight against threats to its security.”

Israel is not a member of the court, and even if arrest warrants are issued, Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant are not at immediate risk of prosecution. But Khan’s statement deepens Israel’s isolation as it continues its war, and the threat of arrest could make it harder for Israeli leaders to travel abroad.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the chief prosecutor’s decision to seek arrest warrants for Israel’s leaders was “a historic shame that will be remembered forever.”

He announced that he would establish a special commission to counteract such activities and would work with world leaders to ensure that arrest warrants are not executed against Israeli leaders.

Benny Gantz, a former military commander and member of Israel’s war cabinet alongside Netanyahu and Gallant, sharply criticized Khan’s statement, saying Israel abides by “one of the strictest” moral codes and has a robust justice system that is capable of conducting investigations on its own.

“The State of Israel is fighting one of the just wars in modern history after the heinous massacre committed by the terrorist Hamas on October 7,” he said. “The prosecutor’s position to seek arrest warrants is in itself a crime of historic proportions that must be remembered for generations.”

Sinwar and Deif are believed to be hiding in Gaza as Israel tries to hunt them down. However, Haniyeh, the Islamist militant group’s supreme leader, is based in Qatar and frequently travels to the region.

The terrorist organization Hamas has condemned the ICC prosecutor’s request to arrest its leaders.

In a statement, he accused the prosecutor of trying to “identify the victim with the executioner.” He said he had the right to resist the Israeli occupation, including “armed resistance.”

Israel launched the war in response to an October 7 cross-border Hamas attack in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 250 were taken hostage.

The Israeli offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, at least half of them women and children, according to the latest estimates by Gaza health officials. The Israeli offensive has also sparked a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, displacing about 80% of the population and leaving hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of famine, according to U.N. officials.

Speaking about Israel’s actions, Khan said in a statement that “the effects of the use of starvation as a method of war, along with other attacks and collective punishment against the civilian population of Gaza, are severe, visible and widely known. … They include malnutrition, dehydration, profound suffering and an increasing number of deaths among the Palestinian population, including infants, other children and women.”

The United Nations and other aid agencies have repeatedly accused Israel of hindering aid deliveries during the war. Israel denies this, saying there are no restrictions on aid entering Gaza and accusing the United Nations of failing to distribute aid. The UN says aid workers have repeatedly been fired upon by Israel, and that ongoing fighting and a security vacuum have hampered deliveries.

Of Hamas’s actions on October 7, Khan, who visited the region in December, said he saw first-hand “the devastating scenes of these attacks and the profound impact of the vile crimes described in the motions filed today. Speaking with survivors, I heard how family love, the deepest bonds between parent and child, were perverted to inflict unimaginable pain through calculated cruelty and extreme callousness. These acts demand accountability.”

Israel is facing increasing criticism of the war as the death toll rises and the humanitarian crisis deepens.

Israel also faces South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of genocide. Israel denies the allegations.