President Biden issues statement on International Criminal Court warrants

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israel’s prime minister and former defense minister, as well as the military chief for Hamas, accusing the three men of crimes against humanity.
The charges stem from the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, which has led to around 45,000 deaths, according to The Associated Press.
The warrants put Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant and Mohammed Deif at risk of being arrested if they enter one of the International Criminal Court’s member nations.
Deif is believed by many to have been killed in July, but the ICC has said it was unable to confirm that and therefore issued the warrant against him, The Washington Post reported.
President Joe Biden issued a statement on the warrants Thursday, calling the International Criminal Court’s decision “outrageous.”
“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,” he said.
Although the warrants are a blow to Israel’s global reputation, they likely won’t have an impact on the war in Gaza or on Netanyahu’s career. Here’s why.
The International Criminal Court was established after the United Nations recognized a need for an international body that could prosecute crimes like genocide, according to the United Nations website.
Plans for the ICC were finalized in the late 1990s. It began its work in 2002 after those plans were ratified by 60 countries, according to an ICC fact sheet.
As of 2024, 124 countries have ratified the ICC’s founding statute and agreed to act on its warrants.
The International Criminal Court operates independently of the United Nations. Its founding treaty gives it jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression.
A crime of aggression “is the use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, integrity or independence of another State,” according to the ICC website.
The ICC, which is based in The Hague in the Netherlands, issues warrants based on investigations by its prosecutor.
The Office of the Prosecutor conducts investigations after it’s notified of potential crimes by member nations, when the UN Security Council requests an investigation or after the office hears of potential issues from its own sources, the fact sheet explains.
The International Criminal Court’s power is limited, in part because it can’t enforce its warrants, even in member countries. It has to rely on the member countries to carry them out.
None of the three men charged Thursday “is likely to face judges in The Hague anytime soon,” The Associated Press reported.
Netanyahu is the prime minister of Israel. He’s held the post multiple times over the past three decades.
Netanyahu’s office has spoken out against the warrants from the International Criminal Court.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not surrender to the pressures,” the office said in a statement to The New York Times. “He will not recoil or withdraw until all of the war’s goals — that were set at the start of the battle — are achieved.”
Gallant is Israel’s former defense minister. Netanyahu fired him two weeks ago “over differences on strategy in the Gaza war,” The New York Times reported.
“The two also clashed over domestic issues, particularly the conscription of ultra-Orthodox Israelis,” the article said.
Deif previously led Hamas’ military wing.
Israel believes it killed Deif in late July, but the International Criminal Court was unable to confirm that claim.
“As head of the Qassam Brigades, Deif was believed to have been one of the masterminds of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack on southern Israel, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip,” NBC News reported in August.
In a statement, Hamas commended the ICC for its warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant but did not comment on Deif, per the AP.
Like Biden, other top U.S. officials have criticized the ICC’s warrants, questioning whether the court has jurisdiction.
“The United States fundamentally rejects the court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials,” a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council said in a statement to The New York Times. “We remain deeply concerned by the prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision.”
The U.S., like Israel, is not a member of the International Criminal Court.
Several world leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Minister Casper Veldkamp of The Netherlands, have said they plan to arrest the men if they have the opportunity.
“We are one of the founding members of the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice,” Trudeau said, per The Washington Post. “We stand up for international law and we will abide by all the regulations and rulings of the international courts.”
This week is not the first time the International Criminal Court has charged sitting leaders with war crimes, according to The New York Times.
Just last year, it issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, which stemmed from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The International Criminal Court has also previously issued warrants against Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan and Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya, among others, The New York Times reported.
The warrant against Putin — and what’s happened since it was announced — illustrate the limits of the ICC’s power.
Countries that belong to the court are supposed to arrest people subject to outstanding warrants when they visit, but Putin visited Mongolia is September and “received a red-carpet welcome,” per The New York Times.
Still, the new warrants will complicate Netanyahu’s work, in particular. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has announced that he expects EU member countries to respect the warrants.
“The world will be a smaller place for Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant, who will have to plan their trips very carefully,” The New York Times reported.