A disgruntled George Clooney, a longtime supporter of Democratic candidates, rang up the White House last month after President Joe Biden denounced the International Criminal Court’s request to issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant. The prosecutors also sought the arrest of top Hamas officials.
Clooney’s wife, Amal, an international human rights lawyer, worked with the ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan and a panel of international legal experts to review evidence of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and Gaza. After an evaluation, Amal and her colleagues published a legal report agreeing with the prosecutor that the applications for arrest warrants were based on reasonable grounds.
According to The Washington Post, which first reported the news, Clooney spoke to Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president, over Biden’s use of the word “outrageous” when denouncing the ICC’s prosecutors’ application. Clooney also reportedly voiced concern over the Biden Administration’s initial consideration of placing sanctions on the ICC, which could potentially include Amal.
“The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous,” Biden said in a statement. “And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”
On Tuesday, the House approved legislation that would impose sanctions penalizing the ICC. Although Biden harshly criticized the ICC’s request of arrest warrants for senior Israeli leaders, the president’s administration said it “strongly opposes” the bill because it “could require sanctions against court staff, judges, witnesses, and U.S. allies and partners who provide even limited, targeted support to the court in a range of aspects of its work.”
In an oped published by the panel enlisted by the ICC, which included Amal, the group wrote: “There is no conflict that should be excluded from the reach of the law; no child’s life valued less than another’s. The law we apply is humanity’s law, not the law of any given side. It must protect all the victims of this conflict; and all civilians in conflicts to come.”
They continued, “And as investigations continue, we hope that state authorities, witnesses and survivors will engage with the judicial process. Ultimately, we hope that this process will contribute to increased protections for civilians and sustainable peace in a region that has already endured too much.”