WASHINGTON, US
United States President, Joe
Biden, denied Monday that Israel’s war in Gaza was genocide, as he slammed an
“outrageous” request by the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor for an
arrest warrant for Israeli leaders.US President Joe Biden speaks during a celebration for Jewish American Heritage Month at the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC on May 20, 2024. (Courtesy)
“What’s happening is not
genocide,” Biden told a Jewish American Heritage Month event at the White House
as he discussed the conflict sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
His remarks referred
specifically to a case at a different tribunal, the UN International Court of
Justice (ICJ), which is dealing with allegations by South Africa that Israel’s
war in Gaza is genocidal.
But he also amped up his
criticism of the ICC, a separate war crimes court, saying that “we reject” ICC
Prosecutor Karim Khan’s bid to arrest Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and its defense minister.
Khan also sought the arrest of
top Hamas figures including the Palestinian militant group’s leader in Gaza,
Yahya Sinwar, and political chief Ismail Haniyeh.
“Whatever these warrants may
imply, there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas,” Biden told the
audience in the Rose Garden of the White House.
Biden pledged “ironclad”
support for Israel, adding that “we stand with Israel to take out Sinwar and
the rest of the butchers of Hamas.”
The US president further vowed
to free hostages taken by Hamas during the October 7 attack “come hell or high
water.”
Hours earlier, he had issued a
written statement saying that the ICC warrants were “outrageous.”
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