President Joe Biden on Monday released a statement slamming the International Criminal Court for seeking arrest warrants for Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling the effort "outrageous."
"The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous," Biden said in the written statement released by the White House. "And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas," the president emphasized. "We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security."
Biden slams International Criminal Court for "outrageous" case against Israeli leaders.
— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) May 20, 2024
"...there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas." pic.twitter.com/PNROslndlp
Biden is right that there are no comparisons to be made between Israel and Hamas. Still, the last line of his statement attempts to paper over the president's decision to demand a ceasefire and then withhold military aid and intelligence from Israel unless the Jewish state allowed Hamas to survive intact in Rafah.
This is ultimately another embarrassing case in which President Biden and his administration again failed to use America's (previously demonstrated) strength on the world stage to deter action deemed "outrageous" even by Biden.
The point Biden and the White House keep failing to explain is that there's no legitimate case to be brought against Israel by the International Criminal Court based on the ICC's founding treaty, the Rome Statute.
As Townhall reported earlier this month as the White House faltered in its attempt to explain why the court doesn't have a case and can't bring one, the principle of complementarity at the heart of the Rome Statute means the ICC "is intended to complement, not to replace, national criminal systems; it prosecutes cases only when States do not, are unwilling, or unable to do so genuinely."
That is, it exists to prosecute crimes where there is not a robust judicial system to ensure accountability. Israel (along with and similar to the U.S.) has an independent judicial system that precludes the ICC from bringing a case.
Members of Congress slammed the ICC's decision to seek arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, including Senator Lindsey Graham who sounded off in a lengthy post on X. As the South Carolina Republican explained, he was party to discussions between the Biden administration and the ICC about its plans regarding a case against Israel.
"Instead of the ICC following through with scheduled consultations with Israel, they announced the warrants," Graham said in his post. "I feel that I was lied to and that my colleagues were lied to," he added. "Prosecutor Khan is drunk with self-importance and has done a lot of damage to the peace process and to the ability to find a way forward."
This outrageous decision is truly a slap in the face to the independent judiciary in Israel, which is renowned for their independence.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) May 20, 2024
We must not forget as a nation the International Criminal Court threatened to bring action against American forces in Afghanistan – and we are a…
The impact of the court's decision, Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-NY) also warned, "will forever damage the credibility of the ICC."
This is a mistake and will forever damage the credibility of the ICC. There can be no equivocation. Prime Minister Netanyahu is the leader of a democracy and is defending Israel’s right to exist following the horrific October 7th attacks. Hamas is a terrorist organization…
— Rep. Marc Molinaro (@RepMolinaroNY19) May 20, 2024
This is a developing story and may be updated.