Antony Blinken has indicated that he will work with American lawmakers on potential sanctions against the International Criminal Court after it sought arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and defence minister, setting the stage for a confrontation with the world court in the Hague.
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“We reject the prosecutor’s equivalence of Israel with Hamas,” Mr Blinken said, warning that the decision could jeopardise efforts to have a ceasefire in Gaza, agree a hostage exchange deal and increase humanitarian aid for the starving Palestinians.
At a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, Mr Blinken was asked if he would support legislation aimed at preventing the world court from “sticking its nose in the business of countries that have an independent, legitimate, democratic judicial system”.
The US sanctioned ICC officials Fatou Bensouda and Phakiso Mochochoko in 2020 for seeking to investigate alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.
The latest ICC war crimes allegations are “significant”, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar said in a statement, adding that “the application for arrest warrants is merely the beginning of a judicial process”.
Mr Netanyahu, on his part, has labelled the ICC’s decision to seek arrest warrants against him and his defence minister “a complete distortion of reality”.
Meanwhile, the leaders of Norway, Ireland and Spain have said their countries will formally recognise Palestine as a state for the sake of “peace in the Middle East”, Al Jazeera reported.
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