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Report: Senators Met With ICC Over Israeli Arrest Warrants

By    |   Thursday, 02 May 2024 07:35 PM EDT

A bipartisan group of senators spoke with senior officials at the International Criminal Court over the latter's consideration of bringing arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, Axios reported Thursday.

The meeting was held virtually on Wednesday, according to the report. The identities and number of senators on the call was not reported. The senators held the meeting at the behest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ynet reported.

Netanyahu also asked President Joe Biden for help in a phone call Sunday. Netanyahu on Tuesday said arrest warrants for Israeli officials, himself included, "would be an outrage of historic proportions."

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan, based in The Hague, Netherlands, said he opened an investigation in March 2021 regarding war crimes committed by Israel and terrorists in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war. The ICC said its probe extended "to the escalation of hostilities and violence" in the aftermath of Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorists slaughtered more than 1,200 Israeli citizens, including women, children, and infants.

Israel has told the United States that the Palestinian Authority (PA) is pressing the ICC to bring arrest warrants against Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Herzi Halevi. Netanyahu told the U.S. it will take retaliatory steps against the PA if charges are brought, a move that would most certainly bankrupt the PA.

Biden has publicly declared he opposes the ICC's consideration of arrest warrants.

"As we have publicly said many times, the ICC has no jurisdiction in this situation and we do not support its investigation," the White House said Sunday.

Further, lawmakers have vowed sanctions against ICC officials if arrest warrants are brought. It's alleged that Israel has been deliberately starving Gazans by preventing aid from entering Gaza in its military campaign to destroy the Hamas terrorists.

"Rather than commend Israel for abiding by the rules of war while fighting an enemy that violates every rule of war, including holding 133 Israeli men, women, and children hostage, who's the ICC targeting? The democracy called Israel," Netanyahu said Tuesday.

Netanyahu is reportedly nervous about the arrest warrants, saying it would spark a new wave of antisemitism around the world. Further, "Netanyahu's global freedom of movement could soon mirror that of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin," against whom the ICC issued arrest warrants in March 2023, Ynet reported.

Regardless, Netanyahu remained defiant.

"No ICC action will impact Israel's ironclad determination to achieve the goals of our war with Hamas terrorists: We will destroy Hamas' military and governing capabilities in Gaza, we will release all our hostages, and we will ensure that Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again," he said Tuesday.

Mark Swanson

Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.

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A bipartisan group of senators spoke with senior officials at the International Criminal Court over the latter's consideration of bringing arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, Axios reported Thursday.
senators, icc, meeting, arrest, warrants, israel, joe biden, benjamin netanyahu, gaza, hamas
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2024-35-02
Thursday, 02 May 2024 07:35 PM
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