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ICC arrest warrants against Israel could cut both ways
The decision put the Jewish state in one basket with Russia and Sudan but may invite American sanctions.
JNS | 11-22-24
In issuing [ [link removed] ]an international arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the International Criminal Court has wielded a double-edged sword.
The move on Thursday landed a major public relations blow against Israel. It also opened up the already controversial tribunal to fresh allegations of politicization, antisemitism, and malpractice, including by countries that recognize its jurisdiction.
And it placed the ICC on a collision course with President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.
“For many, the ruling will confirm anti-Israel sentiments,” Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), a former Israeli Cabinet member and a longtime statesman, told JNS on Friday. “But at the same time, many people will recognize the blatant antisemitism behind this decision, which erodes its credibility and now especially could invite a painful American retaliation.”
Despite the sweeping U.S. rejection of the ICC’s warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, several Western democracies confirmed that they plan to honor them, including Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
As a result, Israel Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar canceled [ [link removed] ]a visit to Israel by his Dutch counterpart, Caspar Veldkamp, set for Monday over the Dutch statement of compliance.
The warrants were the first that the court ever issued against a leader of a Western democracy, placing Netanyahu in the same category as Russian President Vladimir Putin, former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir and Lord’s Resistance Army terrorist organization leader Joseph Kony of Uganda.
Yet occurring amid a conservative renaissance worldwide and a reassessment of the powers of unelected international bodies, the warrants could invite noncompliance and serious countermeasures on the part of the Trump administration.
Mike Waltz, the administration’s nominated national security advisor, dismissed the warrants and promised a “strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC & UN come January,” when the new administration is sworn in.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) called the tribunal “a kangaroo court” and its chief prosecutor Karim Khan “a deranged fanatic. Woe to him and anyone who tries to enforce these outlaw warrants,” the senator said.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the press secretary of the White House under U.S. President Joe Biden, told reporters that her country “fundamentally rejects” the ICC action and remains “deeply concerned” by the “troubling process errors” that led to the decision to seek arrest warrants.
Trump imposed sanctions on the ICC in 2020 for its plans to go after U.S. military personnel. Biden reversed those sanctions. The ICC has not pursued its plans to prosecute Americans.
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