US, UK leaders call ICC Israel arrest bid ‘outrageous’ & ‘unhelpful’

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden denounced an “outrageous” application by the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor Monday (May 20) for an arrest warrant for Israeli leaders, as Washington warned the move put truce talks at risk.

“The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas,” Biden said in a statement.

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan sought warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as top Hamas leaders, on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In London, the spokesperson for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday the ICC prosecutor’s decision to request an arrest warrant for Netanyahu is unhelpful “in relation to reaching a pause in the fighting, getting hostages out or getting humanitarian aid in”.

The UK spokesperson said that the ICC did not have the jurisdiction to request the arrest warrants.

“The UK, as with other countries, does not yet recognise Palestine as a state and Israel is not a state party to the Rome Statute”, which outlines the ICC’s areas of jurisdiction, the spokesperson said.

Asked if the police would arrest Netanyahu if he came to Britain, the spokesperson said he would not comment on what he called “hypotheticals”.

The British Deputy Foreign Minister Andrew Mitchell later told parliament that the ICC’s decision would not have an immediate impact on the government’s approval of licences so companies can sell weapons to Israel.

“The fact that the prosecutor has applied for arrest warrants to be issued does not directly impact, for example, on UK licensing decisions but we will continue to monitor developments,” Mitchell said.