Biden slams ‘outrageous’ Netanyahu arrest warrant bid by International Criminal Court
WASHINGTON — President Biden on Monday ripped the “outrageous” arrest warrant application against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that was filed by International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan.
“The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous,” said Biden, whom anti-Israel protesters have dubbed “Genocide Joe” for his forceful early support of Netanyahu’s invasion of the Gaza Strip.
“And let me be clear: Whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas,” added Biden, who traveled to Israel just 11 days after Hamas terrorists started the war on Oct. 7 by murdering about 1,200 people — including 33 Americans — across southern Israel.
“We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security,” the president concluded.
Although Biden slammed the arrest warrant application, the 81-year-old has himself become increasingly critical of Netanyahu’s conduct of the Gaza war, halting shipments of 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs to try to prevent an Israeli offensive against the city of Rafah.
Polls show that Biden’s support for Netanyahu threatens his re-election by alienating key Democratic constituencies, such as Arab American and Muslim American voters in swing states like Michigan.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also condemned the arrest warrant application against Netanyahu in a separate statement.
“[T]he United States has been clear since well before the current conflict that that [sic] ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter. The ICC was established by its state parties as a court of limited jurisdiction,” Blinken said.
“Those limits are rooted in principles of complementarity, which do not appear to have been applied here amid the Prosecutor’s rush to seek these arrest warrants rather than allowing the Israeli legal system a full and timely opportunity to proceed,” Blinken added.
“In other situations, the Prosecutor deferred to national investigations and worked with states to allow them time to investigate,” the secretary went on. “The Prosecutor did not afford the same opportunity to Israel, which has ongoing investigations into allegations against its personnel.”
Khan stated that Netanyahu is suspected of seven war crimes, including “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare,” “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population” and “extermination and/or murder.”
The application also names Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as a possible defendant, while a separate application was filed against Hamas military leader Yahya Sinwar, who is suspected of orchestrating the Oct. 7 attacks, and two other top terror brass.
Khan is a British citizen whose father was born in Pakistan. His brother, Imran Ahmad Khan, was a Conservative Party member of the UK’s Parliament until 2022, when he was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.
