US President Joe Biden commented on the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor's request for arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant saying, "The ICC prosecutor's request for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor is trying to imply, there is no equation between Israel and Hamas."
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken "fundamentally rejects" the ICC's request for arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials.
The United States essentially rejects today's announcement by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that he is applying for arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials, along with warrants for senior Hamas officials.
"We reject Israel's prosecutorial equation with Hamas. It is a disgrace. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that committed the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and continues to hold dozens of innocent people, including Americans, hostage," Blinken said.
Israel has also been sparked by a request by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israel's government called it a "historic disgrace." Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the move by the International Criminal Court prosecutor to seek arrest warrants against the country's prime minister and defense minister was "beyond outrageous" and emboldened terrorists around the world.
"Any attempt to draw a parallel between these horrific terrorists and a democratically elected government of Israel – working to fulfill its duty to defend and protect its citizens in full compliance with the principles of international law – is outrageous and cannot be accepted by anyone," he said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called the move by the International Criminal Court "scandalous."
Israeli War Council member Benny Gantz described the attorney general's request as a "crime of historic proportions." "To draw parallels between the leaders of a democratic country determined to defend itself and the terror inflicted by leaders of a bloodthirsty terrorist organization (Hamas) is a profound distortion of justice and a blatant moral bankruptcy," Gantz said.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called it a "display of hypocrisy and Jewish hatred" reminiscent of Nazi propaganda. "The arrest warrants against them (Netanyahu and Galant) are arrest warrants against all of us," Smotrich said in a statement, calling on Israeli-friendly countries to take action to dissolve the ICC.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on Netanyahu to ignore the International Criminal Court and prosecutor Karim Khan, saying they were anti-Semitic.
And opposition leader Yair Lapid condemned the International Criminal Court's announcement, calling it a "catastrophe".
Former Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, commented that "a court that places in the same category a prime minister and a defense minister of a democratic country, along with the leaders of a terrorist organization that launched a terrorist attack in which thousands of civilians were massacred and raped, cannot be called a court. It's a puppet show to the rhythm of the terrorists' instructions."
Families of Israeli hostages expressed dissatisfaction with the prosecutor's request, citing "symmetry" between the Israeli leadership and Hamas.
International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on war crimes and crimes against humanity charges over the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel and the Gaza war, he told CNN.
The attorney general said arrest warrants were also being sought for Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galad, as well as two other Hamas leaders, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri.
A panel of judges of the International Criminal Court will consider the prosecutor general's request for the arrest warrants.
As CNN reports about Netanyahu, this is the first time the International Criminal Court has targeted the leader of a close ally of the United States. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin.
According to the attorney general, the charges against Sinwar, Haniyeh and al-Masri include "mass murder, murder, hostage-taking, rape and sexual assault in custody."
The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include "causing mass extermination, causing hunger as a method of war, including refusing to provide humanitarian aid, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict," the attorney general told CNN.
