The Biden administration condemned the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to investigate Israeli war crimes in the occupied Palestinian Territories on Wednesday.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement that said the US “firmly opposes” the ICC opening a case into what he called the “Palestinian situation.” He accused the court of “unfairly” targeting Israel.
The ICC investigation is expected to focus on the 2014 Gaza war and the Gaza border protests that took place from 2018 to 2019. The court said it is investigating alleged war crimes of both the Israeli government and Hamas, the ruling party in Gaza.
In the 2014 war, thousands of Palestinian civilians were killed in Israeli airstrikes. Later, in the border protests, known as the Great March of Return, 183 demonstrators were shot and killed by Israeli snipers. Thousands more were wounded, including children, disabled people, journalists, and paramedics.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the ICC decision, calling it “pure antisemitism.” Netanyahu reportedly asked President Biden to keep sanctions on the ICC that were imposed by the Trump administration.
President Trump hit ICC employees, including Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, with economic sanctions and travel restrictions over an ICC investigation into US war crimes in Afghanistan. Like most Trump-era sanctions, the ICC ones are still in place.
>The US has said that the Palestinians have no standing on human rights because they are not a country. . .Now about China’s Uighurs. . .
>The idea that any charges against Israel are “pure antisemitism” has been US policy for years.
If you don’t see much difference on the foreign policy side between Trump and Biden it’s because they are controlled by the same folks.
Yes, the Oligarchy. But, could it be, re BB and the Mid-East (and not from any access of brotherly love) they’re finally realizing (as they did with Viet Nam) the game ‘s not worth the candle. The arms peddlers can continue their trade directly with the locals.
Just curious is there a US law that forbids a country receiving aid if they are committing War crimes!
Probably not if we don’t consider them war crimes. The eye of the beholder, you know.
“The court said it is investigating alleged war crimes of both the Israeli government and Hamas, the ruling party in Gaza.”
Tony didn’t mention whether Hamas was being “unfairly” targeted. And doesn’t the fact that the ICC is looking at both sides make the “unfairly” part a load of bullshit? Blinken IS Pompeo/Clinton/Kerry/Kissinger(can never leave him out)…..
Let’s suppose for the sake argument that Israel is being unfairly singled out. What would the relevance of that “fact” to whether Israel’s bombing of Gaza was a war crime? None. Let’s suppose that Israel’s bombing was “in response to” Hamas’s attacks. Why not ask what the Hamas attacks were “in response to”?
If an emergency department doctor had to choose between helping someone having a heart attack versus someone with a broken arm, we would consider it malpractice if the doctor ignored the person having a heart attack & gave all his attention to the person with a broken arm. The 32 countries with the worst Human Rights records are:
Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uganda, Belarus, Qatar, Nigeria, Gabon, DR Congo, Republic Congo, Cameroon, Togo, Chad, Central African Republic, Palestine, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Albania, Kyrgystan, Venezuela, Pakistan, Malawi, Niger, Equatorial Guinea, Myanmar, Mauritania, Libya, Cuba, Russia, Kuwait, South Sudan, Syria, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Iraq, Afghanistan, China, Somalia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea.To ignore the suffering of the people in these countries while focusing all attention on Israel, a liberal democracy, is the equivalent of malpractice.