Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday said he wanted to work with Congress on legislation to punish the International Criminal Court (ICC) for seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Blinken was asked by Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing if he would support legislation to counter “the ICC sticking its nose in the business of countries that have an independent, legitimate democratic judicial system.”
Blinken replied, “Given the events of yesterday, I think we have to look at the appropriate steps to take to deal with again, what is a profoundly wrongheaded decision.”
The ICC was previously sanctioned by the US under the Trump administration for its plans to investigate alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan. The Biden administration reversed the sanctions, but the US pressure worked to get the court to announce the focus of its Afghanistan investigation would be on the Taliban and ISIS-K.
The ICC’s chief prosecutor announced warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant on Monday for their role in the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, which implicates Blinken and other top US officials for supporting the onslaught. The ICC is also seeking warrants for Hamas leaders for the October 7 attack on southern Israel and the taking of hostages.
The State Department has said it would rather Israel kill Hamas leaders than have them face trial in The Hague. “We absolutely believe that Hamas should be held accountable. That could either be through the prosecution of the war effort by Israel. It could be by being killed. It could be by being brought to justice in an Israeli court,” said State Department spokesman Matt Miller.
The Biden administration is opposing the ICC efforts against Israeli and Hamas leaders despite backing its warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The US says the ICC doesn’t have jurisdiction to pursue Israeli leaders since Israel is not a member of the court, but neither is Russia and Ukraine. While not having full UN membership, the State of Palestine is a signatory to the Rome Statute, making it a member of the ICC.
In your face hypocrisy charging forward. They are getting truly desperate now. In full light of day, cornered, no dark cover to seek shelter, completely exposed in all their hideous nakedness. They spew their poison unsugared now. This is where they are at their most dangerous.
cool your jets there Blinken. since uncle sam does not recognize the authority of the ICC, uncle sam should not take any part in dismantling the ICC.
will any member of uncle sam ever step the f*ck up and explain WTF they are doing and WTF they are doing it for ?
what
what.
edit) = my granddaughter has a boyfriend suddenly.
she is all, “what I’m gonna do if he tries to kiss me?”
i said you should kiss him first to assert dominance.
i gave her 3 condoms and told her that there is no room in our household for any more little guys.
what
Just 3?
Sure, one to use while the other two are getting washed and dried. Seems obvious.
i only had 3 because i don't need them anymore
LOL. Good one. Before you develop more material for your family to get famous, you may want to know that Jerry Springer has moved on. His program turned down my application. wut
I think he moved on 6 feet under.
I didn’t realize Hell was that shallow! LOL
Is that actually a good thing to say out in public? Is it a new Orwell joke? …Like you know, “War (Crime) is Peace?”
Opposing “Genocide” is “profoundly wrongheaded decision.” Where in the hell is Orwell!? Do I have to point out all the new material for him? …What’s that? …He is turning over in his grave? …That’s not helping.
The ICC didn’t indict anybody for genocide. Genocide is a crime under Article 6 of the ICC’s statute, but at this point they aren’t alleging that anyone is perpetrating a genocide in Gaza.
If it’s fair game to murder Hamas leaders, then it’s fair game to kill Blinken, Miller, Netanyahu, Biden? That’s their logic of justice carried forward.
The US has a strange sense of obligation to Israel, who seems to be committing crimes against humanity, given what is being done with regard to Palestine. I love my country and I love Israel too but….. we support murdering innocent people, it rather reminds me of another potential holocaust.
Sorry Donna, I’m going to have to disagree with you on your love for either Israel or the US. Not much to love about a country conducting a genocide and the country that is supporting/enabling it. I find both of them utterly disgusting.
It’s just the ruling elites, Straussian Neoconservatism and Zionism. You can love the country of Huck Finn and loathe Washington & Wall St.
I can’t.
From MoA, food for thought:
“We might see millions of the Zionists hang before this is over. It would be justice served.”
Posted by: Jon_in_AU | May 22 2024 3:51 utc | 238
How does killing even more people make any sense? Too lazy to find the quote but I think it was from Nasrallah lately that said something to the effect attacks on the entity will stop once everyone is treated as equals in the region and we can live together peacefully on the same land. Nothing about revenge, nothing about killing a bunch of people, nothing about kicking anyone out forever.
Another incredible example that happened recently is when Haniyeh did not even want more blood shed when his own children and grandchild were killed.
Those are the examples to follow and the ones that will win out in the end no matter how long it takes.
Posted by: eman | May 22 2024 6:39 utc | 239
Yes, objectively and provably true & correct! Post-apartheid South Africa proved that truth & reconciliation work exponentially better than revenge, maybe even infinitely better.
Yes, objectively and provably true & correct! Post-apartheid South Africa proved that truth & reconciliation work exponentially better than revenge, maybe even infinitely better.
LOL
I love some of the good people; None of these leaders, their sycophants, their stenographers, their system of justice, their greed, their caste system, murderous bloodlust or psychopathy.
Ok, agreed, are degrees of guilt.
Oh really? Where do you think that the people in Washington and Wall Street come from? George Carlin pointed this out decades ago, but it seems to go over most people’s heads.
The U.S. and Israel are evil countries filled with evil people. “Evil” can take many forms. In the U.S. it takes the form of extreme materialism and lack of concern for all the harms caused by that. In Israel, it takes the form of Zionism, ’nuff said about that.
I can agree that capitalism and its science fetish, abortion being its contemporary popular exemplum, is the matrix of evil in modern western civ.; but that your blanket assertion is a gross oversimpification is evidenced at least by the significant Kulturkampf on that issue.
Donna is a rare pure of heart person.
Looking for love in all the wrong places, doing all the wrong things.
Whether it’s the ICC, or the UN general assembly, or any other international body, the US reaction is ALWAYS consistently the same. IF an international body agrees with us, they are a “legitimizing” agency and their “approval” is broadcast by us and touted as proof of the rightness of our position. IF, however, they have the nerve to disagree, or oppose our position, THEN they are a corrupt, dishonest collection of talking heads and we should ignore and punish them. F’ing pack of disgusting clowns. I am deeply ashamed of my government – every part of it, both parties.
The way the UN weapons inspectors were treated before our unprovoked invasion of Iraq still sickens me. Because Blix had the honesty to report he had found nothing substantial, his reputation was ruined, his agency discredited, and he became the butt of endless jokes. Yet the real liars (Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Condoleeza, McCain, etc) get away scot free. Thise that hated them in 2001 still hate them, but those that revered them in 2001 still do. Truth be damned.
And the war criminals circle the wagons. It is seriously shameless behavior even for Blinken..
All the focus on Hamas is a distraction to keep eyes off the brutal Israeli ethnic cleansing. The Judeo-fascists are milking the Hamas issue for all it’s worth, but historian Tarik Cyril Amar has given the perfect response to the Hamas hysterics: “Hamas commits some crimes within a legitimate liberation struggle, as do virtually all resistance organizations in history without thereby losing their principal legitimacy under international law…. Hamas’ violence on and after its attack of October 7 is certain to have some criminal features that deserve prosecution. Hostage taking, for one thing, is a clear case, while systematic sexual violence alleged again by Khan and used heavily as a point of Israeli propaganda, has not been confirmed by evidence so far. The key point, though, is that under international law, Hamas armed struggle is principally legitimate because it is the armed resistance to which the Palestinians have a clear and incontrovertible right. Hamas and its allies legitimately attack Israeli military targets; they did so – not exclusively but to a large extent – on October 7 as well.”
The US President is authorized to invade The Hague if any Israeli is held by the ICC. SCATHING ARTICLE SHOWING HOW FAR WASH. IS PREPARED TO GO TO PROTECT THE ISRAELI LEADERSHIP
“. . .the US is the only country in the world to pass a law giving its
president the power to use any means available, including invasion, air
bombardment, blackmail and even kidnapping, if necessary, to stop the
ICC from prosecuting any American soldier in the custody of the ICC
accused of some crimes—and there are plenty of them who fit this
category of criminals.” https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240523-the-us-president-is-authorised-to-invade-the-hague-if-any-israeli-is-held-by-the-icc/
The fucking Sopranos run the WH, but they are less clever, more devoid of humanity and a different ethnicity committing the crimes.
NOT JUST BLINKEN. “You Have Been Warned”: Republican Senators Threaten the ICC Prosecutor over Possible Israel Arrest Warrants. Read the full letter, obtained by Zeteo, which threatens sanctions in defense of Netanyahu. https://zeteo.com/p/exclusive-you-have-been-warned-republican
LOL What??!
When in a hole,…stop digging…Blinken is Pompeo without the swagger. Just as stupid.
Very people who are behind these do good institutions are the ones excluding them selves from its powers.
Blinken will go after the ICC because he knows, he himself is a WAR CRIMINAL. The Genocide in Gaza has been seen by the world and we all know who is committing the WAR CRIMES. Blinken can NOT hide, not Biden, not Sunak, not Netanyahu. We, the people of the WORLD want Justice and we want these War Criminals arrested, no matter who they are. Our Government has a BIG infestation of Zionism and it is the reason that Blinken is so arrogant, to think that people don’t know he is GUILTY of Crimes against Humanity. Blinken should not be welcome in any Nation, that is against the Genocide of Humans.
As a Westerner I generally like Western culture and our supposed values, at least as they exist in principle (nothing wrong with other cultures mind you). But Biden and his cabinet have so pissed them away to the point I feel they won’t recover anytime soon.
https://x.com/DalrympleWill/status/1721163356051288412
Important: Max Hastings overhearing the young Benjamin Netanyahu dreaming of a war when, “if we get it right, we’ll have a chance to get all the Arabs out… We can clear the West Bank and sort out Jerusalem.”
Given the leaks we’ve seen about him trying to bribe Egypt to take what remains of the broken population of Gaza, he clearly thinks this is his moment.#NewNakba
Quote
Scott Long
@scottlong1980
·
Nov 5, 2023
In the 70s, historian Max Hastings interviewed Benjamin Netanyahu extensively, after the the Netanyahu family recruited him to write an official biography of Bibi’s brother Yoni. Here Hastings, in his memoirs, recalls Bibi’s racism and enthusiasm for total ethnic cleansing:
At Bibi Netanyahu’s dinner table in Jerusalem, I listened with crawling dismay to Bibi talking about the future of his country. ‘In the next war, if we do it right we’ll have a chance to get all the Arabs out,’ he said. ‘We can clear the West Bank, sort out Jerusalem.’ He joked abour the Golani Brigade, the Israeli infantry force in which so many men were North African or Yemenite Jews.
‘They’re okay as long as they’re led by white officers.’ He grinned.