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Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
"I think you know the answer," Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a dismissive response to a question about whether the U.S. would abide by an ICC arrest warrant against the Israeli prime minister.
The Biden administration's envoy to the United Nations said Thursday that the U.S. would not abide by an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"I think you know the answer to the question about whether we will arrest [Prime Minister] Netanyahu," Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in response to Sarah Leah Whitson of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN). "He was here in the United States a few weeks ago and he was not arrested."
When Whitson pointed out that ICC judges have not yet approved prosecutor Karim Khan's application for an arrest warrant against Netanyahu, Thomas-Greenfield said: "Okay, well, let me be clear: We will not arrest him."
Watch the exchange:
"Are you going to abide by the ICJ orders? Are you going to arrest Netanyahu... if he turns up in the US?" DAWN's @sarahleah1 asks @USAmbUN at @CFR_org, referencing ICJ opinion on illegality of Israel's occupation and pending ICC Netanyahu arrest warrant. pic.twitter.com/sxkUInyvFp
— DAWN MENA (@DAWNmenaorg) September 12, 2024
Thomas-Greenfield's remarks came days after Khan urged ICC judges to expedite their decision on his May request for arrest warrants against Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leaders, citing "ongoing criminality" in the Gaza Strip.
Khan said earlier this week that the arrest warrants are needed to "prevent the continuing commission of the crimes alleged," including the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and "extermination."
The Biden administration has opposed Khan's investigation of war crimes in the Palestinian territories and Israel since it began in 2021, arguing that the ICC does not have jurisdiction there. Israel, like the U.S., is not a party to the Rome Statute, which created the ICC.
Thomas-Greenfield reiterated U.S. opposition to ICC prosecutor's arrest warrant request on Thursday even after a key ally, the United Kingdom, dropped its objections to the proposed warrants against Israeli leaders in the face of Gaza's worsening humanitarian catastrophe. The U.S. has been accused of hypocrisy for opposing the arrest warrant request for Israeli leaders while readily supporting the ICC's arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over war crimes in Ukraine, even though neither Russia nor Ukraine is a state party to the Rome Statute.
The U.S. envoy also said Thursday that she does "not believe the Palestinians, as they exist right now, have all the elements to give it statehood," a position that makes the U.S. an outlier in the international community.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield: "I do not believe the Palestinians as they exist right now have all of the elements to give it statehood."
(In April, the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would’ve made Palestine a full member of the UN) pic.twitter.com/vvsruoo886
— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) September 12, 2024
Atrocities continued to mount across the Gaza Strip this week as the U.S.—Israel's leading arms supplier—doubled down on its rejection of efforts to hold Israeli leaders accountable.
Citing medical sources in the Palestinian enclave, Al Jazeerareported Friday that "at least 16 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the early hours of this morning."
"This number includes five members of the same family who, according to the Palestinian Civil Defense, were killed in an attack on al-Mawasi in south Gaza this morning," the outlet added. "It said two children were among those killed."
"This school has been hit five times since the war began. It is home to around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children. No one is safe in Gaza. No one is spared."
The United Nations relief agency for Palestine said Wednesday that six of its workers are among the at least 18 people killed in a pair of Israeli airstrikes targeting a U.N. school in the Gaza Strip where thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians were sheltering.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said the Israeli strikes on one of its schools, located in Nuseirat in central Gaza, resulted in "the highest death toll among our staff in a single incident" since Israeli forces began bombarding the strip following last October's Hamas-led attack on Israel.
"Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people," the agency said. "Sincere condolences to their families and loved ones. This school has been hit five times since the war began. It is home to around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children."
Victims of the strikes included women and children.
Earlier on Wednesday the United Nations said the school had been "previously deconflicted with the Israeli forces."
"No one is safe in Gaza. No one is spared," UNRWA stressed. "Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times, they are not a target."
Responding to the attacks, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said on social media that "these dramatic violations of international humanitarian law need to stop now."
Israel is currently on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice, a U.N. body. International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan is also seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders—at least one of whom, Ismail Haniyeh, has been assassinated.
Over the past 341 days, Israel's assault on Gaza has left more than 145,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing, according to Palestinian and international officials. Nearly all of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced, while Israel's "complete siege" of Gaza has starved and sickened millions of Palestinians, dozens of whom have died of malnutrition, dehydration, and lack of medical care.
UNRWA says around 200 of its staff members have been killed in more than 450 Israeli attacks on agency facilities since October. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed while seeking shelter under the U.N. flag.
Responding to Israeli claims—reportedly extracted from Palestinian prisoners in an interrogation regime rife with torture and abuse—that a dozen of the more than 13,000 UNRWA workers in Gaza were involved in the October 7 attack, numerous nations including the United States cut off funding to the agency. Almost all of them have restored funding as Israeli lies have been debunked.
Bucking this trend, U.S. President Joe Biden in March signed a bill prohibiting American funding for UNRWA.
"Against this backdrop, it is clear that the prospect of a two-state solution—which we have been ritually repeating—is receding ever further while the international community deplores, feels, and condemns, but finds it hard to act."
European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell on Tuesday urged the international community to stop "radical members of the Israeli government" from thwarting Palestinian statehood and prevent Israel from turning the illegally occupied West Bank into "a new Gaza."
Speaking to attendees of an Arab League conference in Cairo, Borrell lamented that a Gaza cease-fire agreement "has still not been signed and does not seem likely to be signed in the near future."
"Why? Quite simply, because those who are waging the war have no interest in putting an end to it," he continued. "So, they are just pretending... Because, as it turns out, their intransigence is accompanied by total impunity."
"If acts have no consequences, if blatant violation of international law remains disregarded, if institutions such as the International Criminal Court are threatened, if the International Court of Justice rulings are totally ignored by those who promote a rules-based order, who can be trusted?" Borrell asked.
"Not only is there no pause in the war in Gaza," he noted. "But what looms on the horizon is the extension of the conflict to the West Bank, where radical members of the Israeli government—Netanyahu's government—try to make it impossible to create a future Palestinian state."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his far-right government have openly
boasted about their efforts to derail the so-called "two-state solution," and Israeli lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in July to oppose the creation of a Palestinian state.
Borrell asserted that "a new front is being opened with a clear objective: to turn the West Bank into a new Gaza—in rising violence, delegitimizing the Palestinian Authority, stimulating provocations to react forcefully, and not shying away from saying to the face of the world that the only way to reach a peaceful settlement is to annex the West Bank and Gaza."
Since last October, Israeli soldiers and settler-colonists have killed more than 600 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, including more than 140 children. Settlers have carried out more than 1,000 attacks including multiple deadly pogroms, during which Israel Defense Forces soldiers stood by, protected, and even joined the attackers.
"Without action, the West Bank will become a new Gaza," Borrell stressed. "And Gaza will become a new West Bank, as settlers' movements are preparing new settlements."
"Against this backdrop, it is clear that the prospect of a two-state solution—which we have been ritually repeating—is receding ever further while the international community deplores, feels, and condemns, but finds it hard to act," Borrell added.
"What can we do?" he asked, continuing:
We need to raise our voice at the next [United Nations General Assembly] and prevent a sort of "Gaza fatigue," which will embolden the extremists and postpone once again the idea of a political settlement. We have to launch a process where all parties who want to work on an agenda—a concrete and practical agenda to implement the two-state solution—can work together.
Second, we need to revitalize the Palestinian Authority to support their reform process, but also to support [them] financially.
Third, [we have] to facilitate all attempts at dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis.
Fourth, [we must] not give up on engaging with Israeli civil society, even in this context—and especially in this context. Everyone, not just the Europeans—Palestinians, and Arab civil society, must do it. I know how difficult it is to reconcile both narratives, but it is the only way to move forward...
Fifth, the Palestinians have to reach a common vision, to overcome their divisions, because the more these divisions exist, the more they undermine the legitimacy and representativeness of the Palestinians.
Sixth, the Europeans need to adopt a common approach. That is what I am working tirelessly on, even if the success is limited, because I have never seen such a dividing issue among the Europeans as the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Seventh, the Arab States need also to adopt a truly common approach [to] coordinating and showing solidarity.
"All in all, it means building a balance of power on realistic foundations for the two-state solution—before it becomes, definitely, too late," Borrell concluded. "I know, it is extremely difficult. However, we must never give up."
Last month, Borrell called for sanctioning Israeli leaders for hate speech and inciting war crimes in Gaza and the illegally occupied West Bank. He has also called for an arms embargo on Israel.
Israel is currently on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice. Meanwhile, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan is seeking to arrest Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders—at least one of whom has been assassinated—for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Since October 7, when the Hamas-led attack on Israel left more than 1,100 people dead—some of them killed by so-called "
friendly fire"—and over 240 others kidnapped, Israeli forces have killed at least 40,988 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children. At least 94,825 other Palestinians have been wounded. Almost all of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced, while Israel's "complete siege" has starved and sickened people across the enclave, with dozens dying of malnutrition.