(UnitedVoice.com) – After Hamas killed nearly 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped over 200 others, the Israeli government began a war with the terrorist organization. That conflict has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians and left the region devastated.
Israel has blockaded the Gaza Strip, making it difficult to get food and clean water into the region. A prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) recently submitted applications for arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders and two Israeli leaders. President Joe Biden has now spoken out about the warrants.
Arrest Warrant Applications
On May 20, ICC prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan announced he was filing applications for arrest warrants. Among the warrants that Khan wants are ones for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
According to Khan, Gallant and Netanyahu committed war crimes and crimes against humanity by using starvation as a war tactic, killing and/or exterminating Palestinians, intentionally attacking civilians, murdering Gazans, persecuting Palestinians, and committing other inhumane acts.
Khan explained that Israel completely closed Gaza’s borders and restricted the delivery of humanitarian aid, including medicine and food. They also cut off the water to the region, which was the only source of clean water. He said his office believes those “acts were committed as part of a common plan to use starvation as a method of war […] against the Gazan civilian[s].”
Biden Responds
After Khan’s announcement, Biden hosted a White House event for Jewish American Heritage Month. He addressed the guests who were at the Rosa Garden event. He rejected the allegations made by the ICC prosecutor. “We reject that and we’ll always stand with Israel in the threats against its security,” the president said.
Biden also said America supports Israel’s mission to take out the leader of Hamas and “the rest of the butchers” that belong to the terrorist organization.
The president touched on the anti-war protests rocking college campuses across the US, saying his administration respects and protects the “fundamental rights of free speech to protest peacefully.” But he said there isn’t a “place on any campus […] for antisemitism or hate speech” against Jewish people or anyone else.
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, a Jewish-American and husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, acknowledged the difficulties his fellow Jews have faced over the last several months. He told the crowd it was hard for him to face the public some days but said they all had to keep fighting because it was their only choice.
An ICC judge will make the final decision about the arrest warrants, but they are merely symbolic in nature because Israel is not a member of the court.
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