The United States must sanction the International Criminal Court should it issue arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, or American officials and soldiers will similarly find themselves on the dock at The Hague, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warned during an emotional press conference in Tel Aviv.
“The same model they're using to come after Israel and the IDF, they will use against us,” Graham said on Wednesday. “So this is a defining moment for the Congress to stand up and push back against out-of-control organizations.”
He spoke on what is his fifth trip to Israel since the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on October 7, in which over 1,200 people were killed and 252 seized as hostage.
Calls to sanction ICC
He met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister Benny Gantz, among others, in the aftermath of an announcement by ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan that he planned to seek arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over their actions in the Gaza war.
“I will do everything in my power to make sure the ICC is sanctioned by the Congress,” Graham pledged.
“I am going to tell every member of the Senate and the House. If you don't send up to the ICC now and push back hard, we’re next,” he predicted.
“They will come after our soldiers… just a sure as I'm standing here. The model used against Israel will eventually be used against American forces to come after our troops in Afghanistan,” he said.
In going after Israel, Graham explained, the ICC is threatening the leadership of a democratic nation with an independent judiciary, a step that sets a precedent for going after other democratic nations such as the US.
“So I'm hoping that Democrats and Republicans can put sanctions together that the President will approve. This is a defining moment for the American military. The American military needs to see Congress in this administration having their back,” he said.
If the Biden administration doesn’t send a clear signal now, he said, it will regret it later.
“I believe there will be substantial bipartisan support to sanction the ICC,” Graham stated, explaining that many Democrats and Republicans understand that what “we do today for Israel will determine our fate tomorrow.”
He also took issue with the International Court of Justice hearing of a claim by South Africa on charges that the IDF’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza had violated the 1948 convention on genocide.
Israel is not intentionally starving the Palestinian people or trying to kill innocent civilians, he said.
“The IDF is not a war criminal organization. Israel is not Russia. The leaders of your country are not Hamas, the soldiers who wear your flag are not the SS,
“This is the biggest libel of the Jewish state since its founding,” Graham said.
Nations who are criticizing Israel’s response to October 7 should answer the question honestly, “What would you do if somebody came into your country and did to your people what happened here in Israel?”
Graham attacked the UN for its bias against Israel, which predated the October 7 attack.
He noted that based on research by his staff, the UN General Assembly had condemned Israel 140 times between the years 2015 and 2022 while condemning other nations around the globe only 68 times.
That includes, he said, bad actors such as Iran and North Korea.
"If you listen to the UN, you would think that Israel is the worst actor on planet Earth,” he said.
“Why are we picking on Israel as a world?” he asked.