The seat of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands (File photo)
Washington, May 8 (RHC)-- A dozen U.S. senators have strongly warned the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s chief prosecutor against the UN court’s potential issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli officials over the regime’s ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
The warning was issued in a harshly-toned letter addressed by the senators to the British lawyer Karim Khan. “Target Israel and we will target you,” wrote the senators, who included Tom Cotton, Mitch McConnell, Rick Scott, Tim Scott, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio.
The ICC, located in The Hague, is currently conducting investigations into reported war crimes committed by the Israeli military. Speculations have been rife that the court could issue arrest warrants against top Israeli officials over the October-present war that has so far killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
The Israeli officials facing the prospect include Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister for Military Affairs Yoav Gallant, and the Israeli military’s Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.
American legislators are drafting a bill aimed at responding to the ICC if it decides to issue arrest warrants against high-ranking Israeli officials.
The senators, however, said by serving the warrants, the ICC risked losing the United States’ support -- somehow forgetting that Washington does not recognize the International Criminal Court.
The undersigned also cautioned Khan that they would move to “sanction your employees and associates, and bar you and your families from the United States,” adding, “You have been warned.”
Back in January, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations’ legal arm, ruled that “there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and the continuing serious harm to civilians since then.” The court ordered Tel Aviv to take all measures to prevent genocide in the coastal sliver, but stopped short of ordering a ceasefire.
Ever since the ruling, though, the regime has even stepped up its deadly assaults on the Palestinian territory, and has vowed to carry out a ground invasion against the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where some 1.5 million people are seeking refuge from the ravages of the war.
