The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) issued the following statement in response
to International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan’s decision to seek
arrest warrants of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense
Minister Yoav Gallant along with Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Muhammed Deif, and
Ismail Haniyeh. CEP CEO Mark D. Wallace and CEP President Fran Townsend said:





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CEP STATEMENT ON INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT’S DECISION TO SEEK ARREST
WARRANTS FOR ISRAELI AND HAMAS LEADERS


(New York, N.Y.) – The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) issued the following
statement in response to International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim
Khan’s decision to seek arrest warrants of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant along with Hamas leaders Yahya
Sinwar, Muhammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh. CEP CEO Mark D. Wallace and CEP
President Fran Townsend said:



“Mr. Khan’s decision to seek arrest warrants for both Israeli and Hamas
leaders is not only hollow as a signal, it is morally abhorrent. To equate the
actions of an internationally-designated terror group with those of a
democratically-elected government defending its territory is to make a mockery
of the ICC’s supposed concern for international justice. Mr. Khan’s attempt to
appear even-handed by condemning both sides is transparent. Arrest warrants for
Hamas’s leaders should have been issued on October 8. There can be no moral
equivalence between the leaders of a group that tortures, rapes, murders, and
uses its own civilians as human shields, and a sovereign nation with a duty to
protect its citizens.



Furthermore, under its own principle of complementarity, the ICC has no
jurisdiction over this matter. Any case against Israeli leadership is
illegitimate until the Israeli legal system has had a full opportunity to
prosecute. Meanwhile, Yahyah Sinwar—a terrorist of the first order—will never
under any circumstances willingly face justice, as he hides deep in Hamas’
Qatar-subsidized subterranean complex, surrounded by innocent hostages,
provoking and inviting death and destruction upon his own people.”



Significantly, Khan’s decision to seek these arrests comes at a time when
Israel is already facing contrived accusations of genocide from South Africa in
the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Ambassador Wallace and former
Homeland Security Advisor Townsend noted at the time:



“Today’s ICC decision is assuredly part of South Africa’s transparent efforts
to whitewash its own abysmal human rights record and demonize the world’s only
Jewish state in collusion with the Islamic Republic of Iran. In particular,
Johannesburg-based telecoms firm MTN, recently named South Africa’s “most
valuable brand,” has a long and dishonorable partnership with the regime in
Tehran, helping it ride roughshod over the human rights of Iranians by
providing surveillance technology. We call for an independent investigation
into South Africa’s disturbing and commercially motivated role in inciting
factitious international judicial proceedings targeting Israel since October 7.
South Africa and the international community should channel their outrage upon
the entities exclusively responsible for the carnage of that day and the
ensuing calamities: namely, Hamas and its state patrons.”



Established in The Hague in 2002, the ICC has declined to take any action
against Bashar al-Assad despite his well-documented crimes against his own
people over 13 years. Neither Israel nor the United States are State Parties to
the ICC.



To read CEP Senior Director Hans-Jakob Schindler’s comments in The National
regarding today’s ICC decision, clickhere
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