In a public announcement, the Israeli Prime Minister questioned ‘with what boldness’ the ICC could ‘dare to equate’ Hamas and Israel.
Israel-Gaza Conflict: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor for pursuing arrest warrants against him for alleged war crimes related to the Israel-Gaza conflict. The chief ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, also sought to arrest senior Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ leader in Gaza, and political chief Ismail Haniyeh, on similar allegations.
The ICC is responsible for investigating and prosecuting individuals accused of the most severe crimes of concern to the global community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression.
The Israeli Prime Minister expressed his vehement rejection of what he termed an offensive comparison between “democratic Israel” and what he described as “mass murderers,” according to a report by the BBC.
US President Joe Biden supported Netanyahu’s remarks and criticized the ICC’s prosecutor for issuing an arrest warrant for the Israeli Prime Minister. Biden emphasized that there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas.
The BBC reported that Khan asserted there were sufficient grounds to consider the Israeli Prime Minister and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Netanyahu denounced the request for his arrest as “an absurd and false order,” according to the BBC. In a public address delivered in Hebrew, he questioned “with what audacity” the ICC could “dare to compare” Hamas and Israel.
The Israeli Prime Minister described the comparison as a “distortion of reality.” He charged the prosecutor with “callously pouring gasoline on the fires of antisemitism that are raging across the world,” as stated by the BBC.
The allegations against both Israeli and Hamas leaders originate from the events of October 7, when Hamas gunmen launched an attack on Israel, resulting in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 252 individuals to Gaza, sparking the ongoing conflict. On Monday, the US President declared that there was “no equivalence—none—between Israel and Hamas,” as reported by the BBC.
“There is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas, whatever these warrants might suggest,” Biden remarked to the audience in the Rose Garden of the White House, as reported by AFP.
The US President promised unwavering support for Israel, asserting, “we stand with Israel to eliminate Sinwar and the other Hamas leaders.” He had previously released a written statement calling the ICC warrants “outrageous,” according to AFP.
