US rejects ICC arrest warrants for Israeli PM Netanyahu, calls process flawed

The United States “fundamentally rejects” a decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the White House said Thursday.

“We remain deeply concerned by the prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision. The United States has been clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter,” a National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement.

The White House did not comment on a separate arrest warrant the ICC issued for Mohammed Deif, the military chief of Hamas.

‘ICC has no credibility’

Mike Waltz, the incoming national security adviser under President-elect Donald Trump, defended Israel and vowed a “strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC and UN come January.”

“The ICC has no credibility, and these allegations have been refuted by the U.S. government,” Waltz said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Republicans voiced outrage over the ICC’s decision, with some calling for the U.S. Senate to sanction the court, which has 124 member nations obligated to arrest individuals subject to warrants.

Neither the U.S. nor Israel is a member of the ICC, and both nations reject its jurisdiction.

The ICC, based in The Hague, said Thursday that the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were issued “for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least Oct. 8, 2023, to at least May 20, 2024.”

The court also issued a warrant for Deif, whom Israel said was killed in a July airstrike in Gaza. Hamas has not confirmed his death.