America essentially rejects the announcement immediately from the Prosecutor of the Worldwide Prison Court docket (ICC) that he’s making use of for arrest warrants for senior Israeli officers, along with warrants for Hamas terrorists.

We reject the Prosecutor’s equivalence of Israel with Hamas.  It’s shameful.  Hamas is a brutal terrorist group that carried out the worst bloodbath of Jews because the Holocaust and continues to be holding dozens of harmless folks hostage, together with People. 

Furthermore, the USA has been clear since properly earlier than the present battle that that ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter. The ICC was established by its state events as a courtroom of restricted jurisdiction.  These limits are rooted in precepts of complementarity, which don’t seem to have been utilized right here amid the Prosecutor’s rush to hunt these arrest warrants moderately than permitting the Israeli authorized system a full and well timed alternative to proceed. In different conditions, the Prosecutor deferred to nationwide investigations and labored with states to permit them time to research. The Prosecutor didn’t afford the identical alternative to Israel, which has ongoing investigations into allegations in opposition to its personnel.

There are additionally deeply troubling course of questions.  Regardless of not being a member of the courtroom, Israel was ready to cooperate with the Prosecutor.  In truth, the Prosecutor himself was scheduled to go to Israel as early as subsequent week to debate the investigation and listen to from the Israeli Authorities.  The Prosecutor’s workers was purported to land in Israel immediately to coordinate the go to. Israel was knowledgeable that they didn’t board their flight across the similar time that the Prosecutor went on cable tv to announce the costs. These and different circumstances name into query the legitimacy and credibility of this investigation.

Basically, this choice does nothing to assist, and will jeopardize, ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire settlement that may get hostages out and surge humanitarian help in, that are the targets the USA continues to pursue relentlessly.