Israel’s Netanyahu disappointed by US vow not to punish ICC

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “surprised and disappointed” by the Biden administration’s recent announcement that it wouldn’t support sanctions being imposed against the International Criminal Court (ICC) after its top prosecutor asked the tribunal to issue arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials including the PM.

“The United States said that they would, in fact, back the sanctions bill. I thought that was still the American position because there was bipartisan consensus just a few days ago,” Netanyahu said in a yet-to-be-aired interview with the Morgan Ortagus Show that was leaked to Politico on Wednesday, according to Hebrew Channel 13.

Earlier the White House announced that it would reject the Republican-led congressional effort to reprimand the ICC after it announced last week that it was seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity.

According to Politico, the White House announcement contradicts previous remarks from Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, who last week told lawmakers he was “committed” to taking action against the “profoundly wrong-headed decision”.

Netanyahu said in his interview with Ortagus, a former spokesperson for the State Department in the Trump administration, “Now there is a question mark, and frankly I’m surprised and disappointed.”

The comments provide fresh evidence of the deepening rift between the Israeli and American leaders who have differed over how Israel should conduct its war on Gaza, Politico explained.

Read: Israel’s decade-long secret ‘war’ against ICC exposed