The International Criminal Court’s decision to pursue an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “totally political,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz told Fox News on Sunday. “The ICC is irrelevant,” the Democratic congressman from Florida added. “They have no jurisdiction. We might as well call them the ‘Harry Potter Ministry of Magic.’”
Moskowitz added that the ICC is irrelevant because Israel—like Syria and China—is “not party” to the organization’s treaty that would allow them to pursue an arrest warrant in the first place. The decision to do so is the result of pressure “from the international community that wants to see no more Israel and they’re using the ICC to go ahead and do that.”
He added that the United States needed to put together a “strong” bipartisan effort to demonstrate that the ICC’s demands will not be tolerated.
On May 20, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan applied for warrants to arrest Netanyahu, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Hamas Commander-in-Chief Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, and Head of Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh for crimes against humanity that “were part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Israel by Hamas and other armed groups pursuant to organizational policies.”
Though the United States has also not ratified the ICC charter, the move has been seen as a potentially hazardous message to countries that are not allied with Israel. Many Democrats have pushed to sanction the ICC as soon as the first week of June, though the ICC does have supporters in the House of Representatives.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told reporters that the unified response against the ICC’s charges is “profoundly disturbing.” She added, “It is an alarming precedent to set to attack institutions of international business who are responsible for really litigating international law and considering international law.”
Elsewhere in the Fox News interview, Moskowitz said the blame for a lack of a ceasefire in the war in Gaza lies entirely at the feet of Hamas. “There’s no other conversation,” he explained. “Why we don’t have the hostages out and why we don’t have a ceasefire is because Hamas won’t agree to one. We need more pressure on Hamas, not less. And any time there’s any daylight between the United States and Israel, Hamas has a reason to not come to the table and agree to a ceasefire.”
In reference to a May 6 announcement that Hamas agreed to an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal, Moskowitz said that Israel had agreed to terms established by the U.S. and Qatar. The Egyptian-Qatari agreement called for a ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of IDF forces from Gaza, a hostage/captive exchange, a lifting of the Israeli blockade of Gaza and the reconstruction of Gaza.
Watch the interview with Rep. Moskowitz in the video above.
