Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Thursday called on the Senate to sanction the International Criminal Court after it issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and referred to the court as a "dangerous joke."
"The International Corrupt Criminal Court has acted in the most absurd and irresponsible manner possible by issuing arrest warrants against the Prime Minister and former Defense Minister of Israel while there is a serious cloud of allegations hanging over the prosecutor who sought these warrants," Graham said in a statement posted on X.
"The Court defied every concept of fundamental fairness and legitimized a corrupt prosecutor's actions," he added.
The ICC this month announced an external investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct made against Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, who requested the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, the BBC reported.
The court's announcement came after media reports concerning a document that outlines accusations against Khan of "abuse" and unwanted sexual touching.
Khan, denying the claims that were made by a female lawyer, said he asked for an investigation from the ICC's watchdog, the Independent Oversight Mechanism (IOM), to conduct the investigation and asked for an inquiry about what he called "disinformation" in the case.
"Calling for an independent investigation of the prosecutor's misconduct one day and issuing a warrant based on his work product the next day is an affront to any sense of fairness and the rule of law," Graham said in his statement.
Graham also called on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to pass bipartisan legislation from the House to sanction the ICC "for such an outrage," and for President Joe Biden to sign the bill.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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