United States: US President Joe Biden has defended Israel against accusations of war crimes in the world’s highest courts.
Following the announcement by Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that he was requesting arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant due to suspected war crimes during the Gaza conflict, Biden made his statements.
At a Jewish American Heritage Month event held at the White House on Monday, Biden declared, “Let me be clear, we reject the ICC’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders.” On the same day, Khan announced that he was requesting arrest warrants for Hamas leaders, Netanyahu, and Gallant due to suspected war crimes.
“There is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas,” Biden added. Hours earlier, he had issued a strong statement saying that the ICC warrants were “outrageous”.
Israel is also facing a separate case on suspected genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which was launched by South Africa. Biden argued that Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza.
“Contrary to allegations against Israel made by the International Court of Justice, what’s happening in Gaza is not genocide. We reject that,” Biden said in his speech.
The ICJ declared in January that there was a real possibility of genocide in Gaza and directed Israel to implement a number of interim measures, including stopping any genocide from occurring.
Even while Biden’s support for Israel was well received at the White House event, pro-Palestinian demonstrations throughout the US have tainted his election campaign, leading some antiwar activists to refer to the president as “Genocide Joe.”
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