US Senator Bernie Sanders has labelled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a war criminal and opposed his invitation to address a joint session of Congress.
Netanyahu accepted the invitation from US congressional leaders on Saturday to speak in support of Israel’s fight against terrorism.
Sanders announced on social media that he would not attend the session, condemning Netanyahu as a war criminal.
He expressed his support for the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, stating that both are guilty of severe international law violations.
On May 20, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and several Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed since October 2023 based on gathered evidence.
Josep Borrell, the European Union (EU) Foreign Policy Chief, stated that Israel and several European countries are attempting to intimidate judges at the ICC in The Hague.
Borrell emphasized that the Prosecutor has done nothing more than make accusations, and the court will decide on the matter.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled Israel must halt its military offensive in Rafah in southern Gaza.
The UN’s top court also affirmed that the Rafah border crossing with Egypt must be opened for the entry of humanitarian aid “at scale”
South Africa appealed to the ICJ to order a cessation of the Israeli military’s entire operation in Gaza, particularly in Rafah, arguing that the military campaign makes life in the region untenable and therefore constitutes a violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention.
