This is an adapted excerpt from the Nov. 23 episode of “Ayman.”
For the first time in history, the International Criminal Court issued landmark arrest warrants against a major ally of the United States. On Thursday, the ICC issued warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, along with Hamas military leader, Mohammed Deif. (Israel has said it killed Deif earlier this year.)
The world’s highest criminal court, which is made up of 124 countries — including all 27 members of the European Union — is now saying that if Netanyahu or Gallant set foot on the territory of a state party, that state party has an obligation to arrest them and transfer them to the Hague.
The jurisdiction of the ICC extends beyond member states and its word carries tremendous weight.
It’s worth noting that the U.S., despite playing a critical role in establishing and operating the United Nations War Crimes Commission, the World War II tribunals at Nuremberg and Tokyo, and more recent international tribunals, is not a signatory to the ICC. Neither is Israel.
But the jurisdiction of the ICC extends beyond member states and its word carries tremendous weight. The language in Thursday’s ruling is devastating. The warrants state that Netanyahu and Gallant bear responsibility for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts,” as well as “the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.”
No one who has closely followed this war over the past 14 months would be surprised by these charges, especially that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war. Multiple human rights organizations and aid groups have been sounding this alarm from the beginning.
But there’s more obvious proof that, as the ICC states, Israel “knowingly deprived the civilian population” of food, water, medicine and other medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity — they said they would.
Two days after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel that killed more than 1,200 people, then-Israel Defense Minister Gallant announced to the world a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip that would allow no food, water, electricity or fuel to 2.3 million Gaza residents. That means Israel’s leaders essentially announced last October that they would do what the ICC just filed arrest warrants for them doing.
In a press release outlining its arrest warrants, the ICC said there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu and Gallant “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”
As expected, Netanyahu denounced the court’s announcement and claimed that it was antisemitic. Former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth responded to that accusation on X, writing: “Netanyahu cheapens the concept of antisemitism to try to save himself. At a point when Jews around the world need to rally support against antisemitism, Netanyahu throws them under the bus by equating antisemitism with criticism of his own war crimes.”
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz wrote that “Netanyahu Brought the ICC Ruling on Himself and Now He’s Whining About Antisemitism.”
But how the international community has reacted is also critical in all this. The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that all E.U. member states should respect the court’s decision and implement it. Nations including France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Canada and South Africa all said they would meet their commitments under international law.
But how did the United States — the country at the center of the rules-based international order that it helped build in its image, the country whose current president, after four years of Donald Trump turning away from that international order, pledged to put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy — react?
By slamming the court and calling its ruling “outrageous.” In a statement, President Joe Biden said the U.S. would “always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”
Threats to its security? Netanyahu and Gallant are being charged with using starvation as a weapon of war, not with defending itself. They’re being charged with doing what Gallant publicly announced they would do. Biden knows all about Israel restricting aid to Gaza; he built a $230 million pier off of Gaza’s coast because of it — a pier that collapsed faster than American credibility on the international stage. The charges also include “crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.” One recent study from Oxfam found that more women and children were killed in Gaza by the Israeli military in one year than in any other conflict in decades, including Russia’s devastation of Ukraine. Make no mistake, the hypocrisy and depravity here is bipartisan. It’s worth remembering how Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken reacted when the ICC charged Vladimir Putin with war crimes in 2023. The president and the secretary of state welcomed those charges and urged the international community to comply with them. But make no mistake, the hypocrisy and depravity here is bipartisan. Last March, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, called the ICC arrest warrant for Putin “a giant step in the right direction for the international community.” But on Thursday, Graham called the ICC a “rogue and politically motivated organization.” And on Friday, he threatened to impose sanctions on any U.S. ally that enforces the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant. The hypocrisy even turned to hostility for fellow Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, of Arkansas. “The ICC is a kangaroo court and Karim Khan is a deranged fanatic,” Cotton wrote on X, referring to the ICC prosecutor. “Woe to him and anyone who tries to enforce these outlaw warrants. Let me give them all a friendly reminder: the American law on the ICC is known as The Hague Invasion Act for a reason. Think about it.” Yes, think about that: A prominent Republican senator and ally of Trump threatening military action against the International Criminal Court in order to defend American-funded alleged war criminals. In 2020, Biden campaigned on restoring America’s standing in the world and respecting international norms and his administration promised to champion human rights. The actions of this past week alone have put an exclamation point on his failure to do so. It’s also exposed American hypocrisy and its weakened influence in the world. And soon Biden will hand the keys to the White House to Trump, a man who has said he wants to end the Israel-Gaza war but makes no promises about human rights or international norms, and brings along a threat of more fire and fury. Allison Detzel contributed.
Ayman Mohyeldin is a host of "‘The Weekend: Primetime" and an MS NOW political analyst.
Basel Hamdan
Basel Hamdan is a segment producer for "Ayman."
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