(PatriotWise.com) — Amal Clooney, the wife of actor George Clooney, was among the group of lawyers who gave unanimous approval for the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor to request arrest warrants for the leaders of Hamas and Israel for alleged war crimes.
Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan on Monday announced that he is seeking arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leaders Yehia Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammad Deif, alleging that they were responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and Israel.
In an op-ed published in The Financial Times, the group of lawyers and former judges, including Amal Clooney, argued that both the October 7 terrorist attack and Israel’s war in Gaza “tested the system of international law to its limits.”
They said they unanimously agreed that Khan’s evidence provided “reasonable grounds” that war crimes and crimes against humanity had been committed by Netanyahu and Gallant in Israel’s war in Gaza and that the three Hamas leaders committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the October 7 terrorist attack.
Karim Khan said in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant caused “extermination” and starvation by allegedly denying humanitarian aid and targeting civilians.
Khan said he had evidence supporting the request for arrest warrants against the Hamas leaders, including video footage from the October 7 attack and eyewitness and survivor testimony.
The chief prosecutor for the ICC must first gain approval from a three-judge panel of the court before arrest warrants can be issued. It takes up to two months for the panel to then consider the evidence and decide if there should be a full court proceeding to issue the arrest warrants.
Israel, like the US, does not recognize the authority of the International Criminal Court. If the ICC did approve the warrants, neither Netanyahu nor Gallant would be at immediate risk of arrest or prosecution.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz condemned the request, saying on Monday that Khan’s decision to seek arrest warrants was “a historic disgrace.” He vowed to fight against the action and said he would work with other world leaders to ensure that the warrants would not be enforced.
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