Trump, Republicans, to Punish the ICC over Netanyahu’s Arrest Warrant

Photo Credit: Haim Zach/GPO

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump, March 05, 2018.

President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for national security adviser Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) on Thursday issued a sharp warning to the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Thursday, promising “a strong response” after the court formally issued arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on allegations of grave war crimes.

Waltz, a staunch supporter of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, dismissed the ICC as lacking credibility, stating, “The ICC’s allegations have been refuted by the US government.” He described Israel’s actions as a legitimate defense against “genocidal terrorists” and criticized what he called “antisemitic bias” at the ICC and the United Nations. Waltz pledged that the Trump administration would confront these biases head-on.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark) sharply criticized the ICC and its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, in a fiery statement on social media. “The ICC is a kangaroo court, and Karim Khan is a deranged fanatic,” Cotton wrote. “Woe to him and anyone who tries to enforce these outlaw warrants.”

WORDS, NO ACTION FROM BIDEN

President Joe Biden on Thursday responded to the arrest warrants issued by the court, saying, “The ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”

On May 20, after the ICC received the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant from its chief prosecutor Karim Khan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued his own rejection of this move, stating, “The United States fundamentally rejects the announcement today from the ICC prosecutor that he is applying for arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials, together with warrants for Hamas terrorists. We reject the Prosecutor’s equivalence of Israel with Hamas. It is shameful. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and is still holding dozens of innocent people hostage, including Americans.”

However, other than the above condemnations, there has been no word from the outgoing administration regarding action against the ICC’s outrageous warrants. Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters on Thursday that Canada remains committed to fulfilling its international obligations and should Netanyahu or Gallant land in Toronto any time soon – to the slammer they would go. The Dutch government also announced it would comply with the ICC’s ruling, pledging to arrest the two Israeli officials should they enter the Netherlands.

The State Department’s daily briefing, a key forum for journalists to question the administration on foreign policy decisions, which was scheduled for its usual 1:15 PM time slot, was abruptly canceled following news of the arrest warrants.

WHAT WOULD TRUMP DO?

While President-elect Donald Trump has yet to comment on the ICC’s arrest warrants, but according to Politico, Republican lawmakers are gearing up for action. One potential casualty of their response could be US cooperation with the ICC on investigations into Russian war crimes in Ukraine—a collaboration that may grind to a halt under the incoming administration.

Sen. JIM RISCH (R-Idaho), the incoming chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stated, “While I supported the work the ICC was doing to prosecute Putin for his war crimes in Ukraine, I can no longer support an organization that has blatantly chosen to disregard its mandate.”

Sen. Risch advocated for sanctions against ICC officials in response to the court’s warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, but his bill sparked intense political discord and an impasse in the current Senate, which is led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer – remember Chuck, who called himself “Shomer Israel?”

But the next Senate will see Schumer back in his familiar role as minority leader, and Rich is already promising, according to a Republican Senate aide, “His bill will absolutely be a priority next Congress if Biden or Schumer don’t act sooner.”

NO JURISDICTION

Incidentally, on May 20, Secretary Blinken also noted that “the United States has been clear since well before the current conflict that that ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter. The ICC was established by its state parties as a court of limited jurisdiction. 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. In other situations, the Prosecutor deferred to national investigations and worked with states to allow them time to investigate. The Prosecutor did not afford the same opportunity to Israel, which has ongoing investigations into allegations against its personnel.”

Blinken added, “There are also deeply troubling process questions. Despite not being a member of the court, Israel was prepared to cooperate with the Prosecutor. In fact, the Prosecutor himself was scheduled to visit Israel as early as next week to discuss the investigation and hear from the Israeli Government. The Prosecutor’s staff was supposed to land in Israel today to coordinate the visit. Israel was informed that they did not board their flight around the same time that the Prosecutor went on cable television to announce the charges. These and other circumstances call into question the legitimacy and credibility of this investigation.”