Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the Biden administration for not backing sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the Israel-Hamas war.
“I’m surprised and disappointed, because I think it’s to the detriment, not only of Israel’s interest, I think … it’s … to the detriment of America’s interest, because Israel may be attacked first by the ICC, but you’re next. America’s really the target,” Netanyahu said in a clip of an interview on SiriusXM’s “The Morgan Ortagus Show,” which is set to air Sunday.
The White House pushed back against a sanctions proposal from Congress on Tuesday, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying the White House does “not believe” sanctions on the international court are “an effective or an appropriate path forward.”
“And … the terrorists who are attacking us, and the mobs who support them in America, they chant, ‘Death to Israel, death to America,’” Netanyahu continued in the interview. “When that is backed by a rogue prosecutor in the ICC, it’s in America’s interest, for America’s security and for our common values, to sanction the ICC.”
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan made requests for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, earlier this month.
Khan has said Netanyahu and Gallant have criminal responsibility for starvation as a method of war, intentionally targeting civilians, extermination and persecution, alongside other war crimes.
Netanyahu has expressed his displeasure with the ICC prosecutor’s decision to request the warrants multiple times and compared it to charging former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and former United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill during World War II.
“I think these charges are exactly as President Biden called ‘em, they’re outrageous,” Netanyahu said in an interview on CNN’s “The Lead” with anchor Jake Tapper. “They’re beyond outrageous. This is a rogue prosecutor that has put false charges, and created false symmetries that are both dangerous and false.”
The Hill has reached out to the White House.