US State Department: ICC chief prosecutor seeking arrest warrants against Israeli leaders ’emboldens’ Hamas

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says the ICC chief prosecutor’s pursuit of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders “emboldens” the leadership of Hamas, which could harm the ongoing efforts to secure a hostage deal.

Miller stresses during a press conference that Hamas has been the “principal obstacle to achieving a ceasefire agreement.”

He argues that the court does not have jurisdiction to target Hamas leaders either, arguing that they can instead be held accountable by the IDF on the battlefield or by being brought before an Israeli court.

As for holding Israeli officials accountable for alleged crimes committed during the Gaza war, Miller notes that the IDF has ongoing internal investigations, including criminal ones, into suspected inappropriate conduct by individual soldiers during the war.

Miller calls into question the legitimacy and credibility of the ICC prosecutor’s case, given his decision to issue an announcement while those investigations are still ongoing.

The ICC is supposed to be a “last resort” if a country is not properly holding itself accountable and this does not currently apply to Israel, Miller says, adding that Washington’s issue with the ICC prosecutor’s decision is not just a jurisdictional one but a process one as well.

The pursuit of arrest warrants “is fully unfounded and should not have been brought,” Miller says.

The State Department spokesperson declines to say whether the US is considering sanctions against the ICC following today’s decision.

“The ICC has done important work over the years to hold people accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and we have supported that work. That’s not changed by the announcement today, but I will say that we do have great concerns about the prosecutor and the steps that he took,” Miller says.