The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants Thursday for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, along with the top surviving Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif. Deif is accused of masterminding the October 7, 2023, attack that kicked off a general war in Gaza and southern Lebanon. Netanyahu and Gallant are charged with "war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, including the use of starvation as a weapon and directing attacks against civilians."

In response, Netanyahu issued a statement condemning the ICC decision.

The antisemitic decision of the International Criminal Court is a modern Dreyfus trial – and will end the same way.

Israel utterly rejects the false and absurd charges of the International Criminal Court, a biased and discriminatory political body.

No war is more just than the war Israel has been waging in Gaza since October 7th 2023, when the Hamas terrorist organization launched a murderous assault and perpetrated the largest massacre against the Jewish People since the Holocaust.

The decision to issue an arrest warrant against the Prime Minister was made by a corrupt chief prosecutor who is trying to save himself from sexual harassment accusations and biased judges who are motivated by antisemitic hatred of Israel.

The ICC prosecutor lied when he told American senators that he would take no action until he had visited Israel and heard its side.

Instead, he cancelled his arrival in Israel last May, several days after suspicions of sexual harassment were made against him, and announced his intention to issue arrest warrants against the Prime Minister and former Defense Minister.

No anti-Israel decision will prevent the State of Israel from defending its citizens.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not give in to pressure.  He will continue to pursue all the objectives that Israel set out to achieve in its just war against Hamas and the Iranian axis of terror.

This is not a surprise, as I posted in May, the ICC's chief prosecutor asked for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant; see BREAKING: ICC May Issue Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant Over Gaza Invasion. This was after Israel ignored an order by the ICC to cease eradicating Hamas in Gaza; see International Court of Justice Orders Israel to Immediately Cease Rafah Offensive. 

The fact that the ICC ignored Hamas' responsibility for the October 7 massacre until they could slop in a healthy dose of "bothsidesism" by condemning those settler-colonists shows what a monumentally unserious organization the ICC is.

I think the ICC will find operating under a second Trump administration substantially more challenging than the environment created by the passivity and weakness of Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. Texas Representative Chip Roy (R) has introduced an ICC sanctions bill that will not pass in this session but should happen in the next Congress.

The ICC’s brazen decision to issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu must be met with action

Congress did our job w/ Rep. Roy, @RepBrianMast, & @RepStefanik's bill to put sanctions on the ICC if they go after us or our allies

Senator Schumer must stand with Israel & pass HR 8282 pic.twitter.com/RuTbmu5gm7

— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) November 21, 2024

Trump's designated National Security Adviser was even more apparent.

The ICC has no credibility and these allegations have been refuted by the U.S. government.

Israel has lawfully defended its people & borders from genocidal terrorists. You can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC & UN come January. https://t.co/jIalwzooeS

— Rep. Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) November 21, 2024

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Trump Warned Us of the ICC and UNRWA - We Should Have Listened 

The ICC Is the Collapse of Sovereignty Waiting to Happen

The ICC needs to have its charter redefined so that it can't act as a political free agent that serves the interests of totalitarian regimes and Western leftists to the extent those interests are not the same. Alternatively, it needs to see all US funding cease and the full force of US diplomatic power and law enforcement directed toward shutting it down.