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Russia: US hypocritical over ICC, Israel
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday the United States did not support the ICC’s investigation of Israel and did not believe that the court had jurisdiction.
US President Joe Biden said last year that the ICC decision to issue an arrest warrant for Putin was justified. The United States has shared details of alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine with the ICC.
“Washington fully supported, if not stimulated, the issuance of ICC warrants against the Russian leadership,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a post on Telegram.
But “the American political system does not recognize the legitimacy of this structure in relation to itself and its satellites,” Zakharova said, adding that such a position was intellectually “absurd”.
Israel is not a member of the ICC, while the Palestinian territories were admitted as a member state in 2015.
Israeli officials are worried that the court could issue arrest warrants against the regime’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials for alleged violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza, Israeli media have reported.
After days of conjecture in Israeli media, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said late on Sunday that it has issued warnings to senior political and military officials that they could soon face arrest warrants.
The ministry said it has informed Israeli missions of “rumors” concerning prosecutions.
The ICC has given no indication that warrants are imminent and has made no comment on the claims.
Israeli officials have referred in recent days to an ICC probe launched three years ago into possible war crimes committed by Israel going back to the 2014 Israel-Hamas war. The investigation is also charged with looking at Israel’s construction of settlements in occupied territories such as the West Bank.