Biden Calls ICC Arrest Warrants for Israeli Leaders 'Outrageous'

Left to right: Yoav Gallant and Benjamin Netanyahu/Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI and ABIR SULTAN/various sources/AFP

US President Joe Biden called the issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli leaders by the International Criminal Court (ICC) outrageous. This is stated in a statement by Biden, which was released by the White House on Thursday, November 21, the Voice of America reports.

“This is outrageous. Let me be clear once again: Whatever the ICC implies, there is no equality — absolutely none — between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel in the face of threats to its security,” the president said in a statement.

The issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant has sparked outrage in Israel. Netanyahu said the decision was motivated by “anti-Semitic hatred.”

“No outrageous anti-Israel decisions will stop us — especially me — from continuing to defend our country by any means necessary,” Netanyahu said in a video message to his fellow citizens.

“We will not give in to pressure.”, he added, despite Israel being accused of killing a disproportionate number of civilians during its military campaign in response to the deadly Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

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Netanyahu had earlier rejected the ICC's “absurd actions and false accusations” in a statement, calling its judges “driven by anti-Semitic hatred” and comparing the court's ruling to the “Dreyfus affair.”

“But Dreyfus was innocent,” Majed Bamya, Palestine's deputy representative to the UN, retorted in a post on social media X condemning the use of “history for selfish purposes to justify their crimes.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said the ICC “has lost all legitimacy to exist and operate,” acting “like a political toy in the hands of the most extreme elements that undermine security and stability in the Middle East.”

The arrest warrants relate to “crimes against humanity and war crimes” committed between October 8, 2023 and May 20, 2024. An arrest warrant was also issued for Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the ICC decision “a dark day for justice and humanity,” saying it “does not take into account the barbaric attack on Israel and its right to defend itself.”

Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right ally of the prime minister, called for the ICC decision to be met with annexation of the entire West Bank.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the warrants “a reward for terrorism.”

In a rare voice of dissent, the Israeli rights group B'Tselem said the ICC decision showed Israel had reached “one of the lowest points in its history.”

Israeli Communist Party Hadash noted that “Netanyahu and Galant must pay the price for the destruction of Gaza and the mass murder of its inhabitants.”.

Prepared by: Sergei Daga