Mike Johnson argued that the US government should oppose the arrest warrants that are supposedly being prepared against Israeli officials, which he described as “shameful.”
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The president of the United States House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, indicated this Tuesday that several Republican congressmen are working on a legislative retaliation against the International Criminal Court (ICC)allegedly preparing arrest warrants for Israeli officials.
The international court, based in The Hague, Netherlands, has been investigating since 2014 the war crimes accusations committed by Israeli military forces and Palestinian militias, and may issue Arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuand other senior Israeli officials for their role in the deaths of civilians in the nearly seven-month war against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, Johnson maintained that President Joe Biden’s government must oppose such arrest warrants, which he described as “shameful” and “illegal,” and “use all available instruments to prevent such an abomination.”
The Louisiana State congressman argued that, if the United States Government does not oppose the alleged orders, “the ICC could create and grant itself unprecedented powers to issue arrest warrants against American political, diplomatic and military leaders.”
The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, Republican Michael McCaul, told the American news portal Axios that they are working on a bill to sanction ICC officials who investigate the United States and its allies in that international court that judges serious violations of international humanitarian law.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre stated on Monday that the Biden Administration does not support the ICC investigation into Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and considers that the court has no jurisdiction in this matter.
The ICC, founded in 2002 by the Rome Statute, has more than 123 members, and in 2000 the Government of the then US president, Democrat Bill Clinton, signed its founding treaty, but did not submit it to the Senate for ratification (download the camera). congressional).
In 2002, the administration of Republican President George W. Bush withdrew its signature and indicated that it would not proceed with the ratification of the Rome Statute.
Axios quoted Congressman Brad Sherman, Democrat of California, as saying that “The United States should consider whether to remain a signatory” of the Rome Statute.
“We need to think about discussing with some of the countries that have ratified [o Estatuto] and see if they want to support this institution,” he added.
On Sunday, during a telephone conversation, Benjamin Netanyahu had asked Joe Biden for help to prevent the issuance by the ICC of arrest warrants that could target him, as well as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Army Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi.
On April 26, Netanyahu wrote in the networks Social networks stated that “the threat to arrest the military and leaders of the only democracy in the Middle East and the only Jewish State in the world is scandalous” and would create a “dangerous precedent.”
Under my leadership, Israel will never accept any attempt by the ICC to undermine its inherent right to self-defense.
The threat to capture the soldiers and officials of the only democracy in the Middle East and the only Jewish state in the world is scandalous. We will not bow down to it.
Israel…— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) April 26, 2024
This Tuesday, the Israeli prime minister once again attacked the ICC, given the possibility that it will issue arrest warrants this week for alleged war crimes against Palestinian civilians.
“This court has no authority over the State of Israel. The possibility of issuing arrest warrants for war crimes against IDF (Israel Defense Forces) commanders and state leaders is a scandal of historic scale,” he declared in a recorded speech.
Netanyahu considered the measure one more obstacle to the war that Israel is waging in the Gaza Strip and reiterated that, despite the ICC’s attempts, the Rafah area, in southern Gaza, will be invaded as soon as the civilian population leaves. and that the objectives of the war will be achieved.
According to the Israeli chief executive, the objective of the ICC is “cripple the ability of the State of Israel to defend itself”which he described as “an unprecedented anti-Semitic hate crime.”
In 207 days of Israeli war in the Gaza Strip, the The official death toll now exceeds 34,500. more than 75% of whom are women and children, according to the local government, and the UN already accused, in mid-March, Israel of committing a war crime in the Palestinian enclave by depriving the civilian population of food, while that other organizations, such as Amnesty International, have denounced “indiscriminate” bombings against the civilian population.
“Eighty years after the Holocaust, international organizations that emerged to prevent another Holocaust are considering Deny the Jewish State its right to defend itself.. Whose? Of those who broke in and continue working openly to commit another genocide. “How absurd, what a distortion of justice and history,” Netanyahu continued.
Israel declared on October 7 of last year a War in the Gaza Strip to “eradicate” Hamas after the latter, hours before, carried out an attack of unprecedented proportions in Israeli territory, leaving 1,163 dead, most of them civilians.
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), in power in Gaza since 2007 and classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel, also took 250 hostages, of whom around 130 remain in captivity and 34 have died since then, according to the most recent assessment by the Israeli authorities.
Israeli government sources, whom Haaretz did not identify, said on Monday that arrest warrants could be served this week against Netanyahu, Gallant and Halevi, and that other officials would not be affected.
According to the Israeli newspaper, both the Ministry of Justice and the Army’s lawyers are trying to prevent this from reaching that point, and Israel’s allies, such as the United States, are supposedly interceding with the ICC Attorney General, Karim Khan, to postpone or even prevent the issuance of such court orders.
Netanyahu also asked other world leaders to speak out on Tuesday. “firmly” against any action by the ICC.
Source: Observadora
