US Considers Legal Move Against ICC Jurisdiction

(IntegrityTimes.com) – The United States is considering a legal challenge against the International Criminal Court’s authority in calling for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. The ICC’s Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan requested the arrest warrants of Netanyahu and Gallant, in addition to Hamas leaders, regarding war crimes that both sides are accused of committing since October 7.

Following the United Kingdom’s general election in July, which saw Keir Starmer’s Labour Party oust the Conservative and Unionist Party in a historic landslide victory, the White House has been pressuring the UK government to commit to the legal challenge against the ICC’s request that had been proposed under former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The Labour Party had planned to abandon the legal challenge, but Starmer has since wavered on the issue. Though Biden caused some friction between Washington and Tel Aviv when he warned against Israel’s controversial assault on Rafah and even weighed up stalling military aid to Israel, he has maintained his commitment to Zionism. In March he said Israel was in his heart, and has called the alliance between the two countries “ironclad”.

Neither the US nor Israel are members of the ICC, but Palestine joined it in 2015. The ICC declared in 2021 that it has authority to prosecute war crimes in the region. According to a US official, the Biden administration may send an amicus curiae to the ICC declaring its strong opposition to Khan’s decision. The US is considering the legal challenge despite having never signed the treaty.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has been prompting the new UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy to continue with the challenge brought in by the UK’s previous conservative government, which argued that Palestine was not allowed to charge Israel with war crimes under the 1993 Oslo Accords. Lammy has already visited Israel to call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas.

The ICC’s decision divided the opinion of leaders in the European Union; EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell accused some EU states of trying to intimidate ICC judges following the court’s decision. Israel slated Germany after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared that the country would comply with the ICC’s ruling and arrest and deport Netanyahu if the arrest warrant is issued.

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