Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday criticized the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its decision earlier this week to seek arrest warrants for senior Israeli and Hamas officials.
Karim Khan, the ICC's chief prosecutor, announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as senior Hamas officials Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh.
“It's outrageous,” Netanyahu told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “This is a dishonest prosecutor gone crazy. His goal is to demonize the only Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East, and he is both disingenuous and dangerous.”
Karim Khan is the ICC's chief prosecutor. (Getty Images)
Khan accused Netanyahu and Gallant of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He alleged seven crimes committed by senior Israeli officials, including “starving civilians as a method of warfare,” “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population,” and “intentional murder.”
Netanyahu criticized the ICC for seeking arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas officials at the same time, arguing that there is an attempt to create a “false symmetry” between “Israel's democratically elected leaders and the terrorist tyrants of Hamas.”
He added that the ICC's decision would be like seeking arrest warrants for Winston Churchill, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler during World War II or President George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden during the war on terrorism.
General view of the International Criminal Court (ICC) building in The Hague, Netherlands, on April 30, 2024. ((Photo by Selman Aksunger/Anadolu via Getty Images))
NIGHT OF INTENSE COMBAT MARKS DEEPEST ISRAELI ADVANCE INTO RAFAH
Israel launched its war after Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people, most of whom were civilians, and kidnapped about 250 more in Gaza, according to the Associated Press.
Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths, said more than 35,000 Palestinians have died during the war.
president biden rejected the ICC request for arrest warrants against Israeli officials, saying that “there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas.
“It is clear that Israel wants to do everything possible to ensure the protection of civilians,” Biden said.
Israeli soldiers gather near the Israel-Gaza border in southern Israel before entering the Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
He added: “Contrary to the accusations against Israel made by the International Court of Justice, what is happening is not a genocide. We reject it. We will always stand on the side of Israel and the threats against its security.”
AUSTIN SAYS THERE IS NO PROOF THAT ISRAEL IS COMMITTING 'GENOCIDE' IN THE GAZA STRIP WAR AGAINST HAMAS
Netanyahu also criticized the ICC for alleging that Israel has been starving Palestinian civilians.
Khan said in a statement that since October 8, Israel has imposed a “total siege” on Gaza that involved the closure of three border points that “arbitrarily restrict[ed] the transfer of essential supplies, including food and medicine, through border crossings after their reopening.”
As Israeli attacks on Gaza continue, Palestinians, including children, are unable to meet many of their essential needs, including basic food supplies, due to the complete blockade imposed on the region; Consequently, in the city of Deir al-Balah, Gaza, they queue for hours to receive meals distributed by charities on May 18, 2024. ((Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images))
“The siege also included the cutting of cross-border water pipelines from Israel to Gaza – the main source of clean water for Gazans – for an extended period beginning on October 9, 2023, and the cutting and impeding of the supply of electricity from at least October 8, 2023 until today. This took place alongside other attacks on civilians, including those queuing for food; obstruction of aid delivery by humanitarian agencies; and attacks and killings of humanitarian workers, which forced many agencies to cease or limit their operations in Gaza,” the statement reads.
Netanyahu called the accusation a “package of lies” and “false.”
“We put in 20,000 trucks: 500,000 tons of food and medicine. The price of food in Gaza has plummeted because the markets don't lie,” he told Hannity. “People get about 3,000 calories a day compared to the 2,000 they need. It's a lot of nonsense.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, said Congress is reviewing your options respond to the ICC decision, including the possibility of sanctions.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
A three-judge ICC panel must decide in the coming months whether to grant arrest warrants against Netanyahu, Gallant, Sinwar, Deif and Haniyeh.
