It is a "disgrace" that the International Criminal Court has issued warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, but the "real fear" is that countries are saying they will honor the calls to make arrests, former Rep. Pete King told Newsmax on Sunday.
"I understand that Canada is going to do it," the New York Republican, appearing on Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend" with former Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., commented. "I'm sure a lot of these European countries [also will]."
The ICC's warrants accuse Netanyahu and Gallant of committing the war crime of starvation, as well as crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts against Hamas after the Iranian-backed group's terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said Canada would enforce the ICC warrant should Netanyahu visit.
"We stand for international law, and we will abide by all the all the regulations and rulings of the international courts," Trudeau said, reports CTV. "This is just who we are as Canadians."
Several U.S. allies such as the Netherlands, where the court is located, as well as Canada, Switzerland, Ireland, Lithuania, South Africa, Turkey, Jordan, Norway, and Sweden, are saying they'll comply with the warrants or at least are open to them, reports NBC News.
Israel and the United States, however, do not recognize the ICC's jurisdiction.
"I remember back in the mid-90s when Republicans first took over the Congress," King said Sunday. "It was a real effort by Democrats to have the United States become part of the ICC. This is terrible. How anyone wants to submit their sovereignty to this international body is beyond me."
But still, if Netanyahu lands in the wrong country, he can be arrested," said King. "Congress should take action to sever all relations and also say, we're going to take action against any country that complies with the ICC."
King and Kingston also commented on the murder of Israeli rabbi Zvi Kogan, whose body was found in Dubai within days after he was reported missing in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.
"It's just another example of brutality in the Middle East," King said. "This is why we have to stand with Israel, why that [there] is no country that we can trust other than Israel. We have to stand with them. No excuses, no apologies. We're with Israel."
Kingston added that Israel is having to fight a "kinetic war and a PR war," and the murder of Kogan "is the kind of atrocity that they have to fight against."
But still, Kingston said, "The ICC decides that Israel is the problem and not Hamas. It's just absurd."
King also on Sunday discussed President-elect Donald Trump's decision to nominate former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as attorney general, and called her a "great threat to the Democratic Party."
"She is going to be able to effectually carry out everything that Donald Trump wants to do," he said. "As far as immigration, as far as cleaning out the Justice Department, ending lawfare, all the things that he campaigned on and throughout the fall, spring, spring, summer, and fall to do, she can do it. And she's not going to have any of the baggage that others may have had."
Bondi, he added, will be able to present the matters well in the press and also in the back rooms, so "she's a great choice. I don't blame the Democrats for being scared."
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