Actor George Clooney reportedly called one of Biden’s top aides last month to complain about the president’s criticism of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) pursuit of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a case handled by his wife, lawyer Amal Clooney.
As first reported by The Washington Post, the Oscar-winning actor called presidential adviser Steve Ricchetti to protest President Biden’s decision to reject the International Criminal Court’s request for arrest warrants targeting Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant.
Clooney was reportedly particularly upset that the Biden administration was initially willing to impose ICC sanctions because of the possibility that his wife would be punished.
The report comes more than a week before Clooney, a key Biden supporter, is scheduled to attend a fundraiser for Biden’s reelection campaign in Los Angeles on June 15.
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Actor George Clooney reportedly called one of Biden’s top aides last month to complain about the president’s criticism of the International Criminal Court’s efforts to seek an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a case handled by his wife, lawyer Amal Clooney. (Getty Images)
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and Clooney’s representatives for comment.
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced on May 20 that he was seeking to indict Netanyahu, Gallant, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and two other top Hamas officials on war crimes and crimes against humanity.
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan gives an interview to AFP in Paris on February 7, 2024. (Dimitar Dirkov/AFP via Getty Images)
Before seeking the warrant, Khan consulted a panel of leading legal experts, including human rights lawyer Amal Clooney.
Biden condemned the ICC’s decision to seek an arrest warrant as “outrageous.”
“Let me be clear: No matter what this prosecutor says, there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas. Absolutely not,” Biden said. “We will always stand with Israel against threats to Israel’s security.”
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Earlier this week, 42 House Democrats voted with their Republican counterparts for a bill to sanction the ICC, and Senate Republicans are pressuring Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to bring the bill to the full Senate for a vote.
Khan has warned that any attempt to disrupt the ICC’s work would violate the Rome Statute, the treaty that established it, but his warning may not carry much weight because world powers including the United States, Israel, China and Russia are not members of the ICC and do not recognise its jurisdiction.
Smoke rises after an Israeli military attack during an Israeli military operation in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, May 28, 2024. (Reuters/Hatem Khaled)
Israeli leaders strongly deny that a crime was committed, saying they were defending their country and upholding international law. Israel does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, so Netanyahu and Gallant are unlikely to be arrested anytime soon, even if a judge issues a warrant.
A decision on whether to issue a warrant is expected to take several weeks. The legal hurdle for approving a warrant is relatively low: A judge must find “reasonable grounds to believe” that the crimes described in Khan’s request were committed. In the past, judges have generally approved such requests.
The latest Gaza war began on Oct. 7 when Hamas-led militants invaded Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 250 hostages.
The Hamas-run Gaza Strip Health Ministry does not distinguish between Hamas fighters and civilians, and claims that Israeli forces have killed more than 36,000 Palestinians since October.
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Israel disputes those figures and accuses Hamas of operating in areas densely populated by civilians.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
