[News] ICC asked to investigate Biden and other former US officials for complicity in war crimes

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeastmonitor.com
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250224-icc-asked-to-investigate-biden-and-other-former-us-officials-for-complicity-in-war-crimes/>
ICC asked to investigate Biden and other former US officials for complicity
in war crimes
Middle East Monitor
February 24, 2025
------------------------------

The International Criminal Court (ICC) should investigate former US
officials President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and
Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin for their accessorial roles in aiding and
abetting, as well as intentionally contributing to, Israeli war crimes and
crimes against humanity in Gaza, US civil society organisation Democracy
for the Arab World Now (DAWN) has said.

The NGO submitted a 172-page communication
<https://dawnmena.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/DAWN-ICC-A15-COMM_19Jan2025-1.pdf>
to the ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan on 19 January, 2025. Prepared with the
support of ICC-registered lawyers and other war crimes experts, the
submission details a pattern of deliberate and purposeful decisions by
these officials to provide military, political, and public support to
facilitate Israeli crimes in Gaza; this support included at least $17.9
billion of weapons transfers, intelligence sharing, targeting assistance,
diplomatic protection and official endorsement of Israeli crimes, despite
knowledge of how such support had and would substantially enable grave
abuses.

“There are solid grounds to investigate Joe Biden, Antony Blinken and Lloyd
Austin for complicity in Israel’s crimes,” said Reed Brody
<https://dawnmena.org/about/who-we-are-2/reed-brody/>, DAWN board member
and veteran war crimes lawyer. “The bombs dropped on Palestinian hospitals,
schools and homes are American bombs, the campaign of murder and
persecution has been carried out with American support. US officials have
been aware of exactly what Israel is doing, and yet their support never
stopped.”

DAWN’s communication lays out the legal and factual basis for investigating
Biden, Blinken, and Austin for violating Articles 25(3)(c) and (d) of the Rome
Statute
<https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/2024-05/Rome-Statute-eng.pdf>,
both aiding and abetting and intentionally contributing to crimes committed
by Israeli officials in Gaza. These crimes include those identified in the
arrest warrants
<https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-rejects-state-israels-challenges>
against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence
Minister Yoav Gallant, including the war crimes of starvation and
intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population, and crimes
against humanity, including murder, inhumane acts, and persecution, under
the Rome Statute. It also includes their role in the war crime of
intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects under Article
8(2)(b)(ii) and the crime of genocide under Article 6.

“Not only did Biden, Blinken and Austin ignore and justify the overwhelming
evidence of Israel’s grotesque and deliberate crimes, overruling their own
staff recommendations to halt weapons transfers to Israel, they doubled
down by providing Israel with unconditional military and political support
to ensure it could carry out its atrocities,” said Sarah Leah Whitson,
Executive Director of DAWN. “They provided Israel with not only essential
military support but equally essential political support by vetoing
multiple ceasefire resolutions at the UN Security Council to ensure Israel
could continue its crimes.”

On 6 February, 2025, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order
<https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/imposing-sanctions-on-the-international-criminal-court/>
for sanctions against ICC officials to punish them for their investigation
of Israeli officials, and on 13 February, the Treasury Department sanctioned
<https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20250213> ICC Prosecutor Karim
Khan under this order. This order could subject Trump to individual
criminal liability for obstruction of justice under Article 70 of the Rome
Statute. The US president has also proposed a plan
<https://www.newsbreak.com/time-510072/3796998931334-how-trump-can-redeem-his-gaza-fiasco>
to forcibly displace all Palestinians from Gaza and to take over the
territory.

Such a plan, if implemented, would also subject Trump to individual
liability for war crimes and the crime of aggression under Article 8 of the
Rome Statute.

“Trump isn’t just obstructing justice; he’s trying to burn down the
courthouse to prevent anyone from holding Israeli criminals accountable,”
said Raed Jarrar, DAWN’s advocacy director. “His plan to forcibly displace
all Palestinians from Gaza should also merit ICC investigation, not just
for aiding and abetting Israeli crimes but for ordering forcible transfer,
a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute.”

*READ: **Houses set ablaze by Israeli attacks on Gaza*
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250224-houses-set-ablaze-by-israeli-attacks-on-gaza/>

DAWN submitted its 19 January communication in response to the Prosecutor’s
17 November, 2023 call
<https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-prosecutor-international-criminal-court-karim-aa-khan-kc-situation-state-palestine>
for parties to present to his office information relevant to his office’s
ongoing probe into violations of the Rome Statute in Palestine, including
the current war in Gaza.

The submission presents extensive documentation of decisions by these three
American officials to provide Israel with military support, including
providing over $17.9bn in weapons and active military support, including
US-operated combat operations, intelligence gathering and targeting
support. The submission also details the trio’s political support,
including actions at the UN Security Council to veto ceasefire resolutions,
and public support encouraging Israeli atrocities, each with the goal of
aiding and abetting and ensuring the continuation of Israeli crimes. It
analyses how specific actions and decisions by these officials meet the
legal threshold for both aiding and abetting and intentionally contributing
to crimes under international criminal law, drawing on established ICC
jurisprudence and precedent from other international tribunals.

The submission demonstrates that Biden, Blinken, and Austin were aware of
how their assistance would be used to commit crimes.

Since October 2023, US
<https://fr.scribd.com/document/731299664/Report-to-Congress-under-Section-2-of-the-National-Security-Memorandum-on-Safeguards-and-Accountability-with-Respect-to-Transferred-Defense-Articles-a>
and Israeli
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/gallant-we-cant-say-no-to-the-us-on-humanitarian-aid-given-how-much-they-do-for-us/>
officials have repeatedly acknowledged Israel’s crucial reliance on US
military, financial and political support to wage war in the Gaza Strip.
Multiple credible sources, including the Biden administration itself,
documented how the Israel Defence Forces persistently, repeatedly and
predictably used US-supplied weapons to carry out attacks and military
operations violating international humanitarian, human rights and criminal
law.

The named Biden administration officials repeatedly intervened to block
efforts to curb US military assistance, despite knowledge of its role in
facilitating Israeli crimes. Indeed, they ensured that US support continued
despite the knowledge that such support violated US laws prohibiting
military assistance to abusive security forces, ignored pleas from UN
officials and agencies, and defied the International Court of Justice’s
orders to cease the sale, transfer and diversion of weapons to Israel that
could be used to commit genocide in Gaza.

The submission provides extensive evidence showing how President Biden,
Secretary Blinken and Secretary Austin fulfilled the material (*actus reus*)
and mental (*mens rea*) elements of aiding and abetting, as well as
facilitating the commission of crimes committed by Israeli forces in the
Gaza Strip since 7 October, 2023. Article 25(3)(c) of the Rome Statute
creates criminal liability when, for the purpose of facilitating the
commission of a crime, an individual “aids, abets or otherwise assists in
its commission… including providing the means for its commission.” Article
25(3)(d) criminalises the intentional contribution to a crime “by a group
of persons… made in the knowledge of the intention of the group to commit
the crime.”

These three American officials all purposely intended to further the
military activities — including criminal operations — committed by
Netanyahu, Gallant and their subordinates, and knew the intention of the
group to commit the crimes. By continuously providing military, political
and public support to Israel while fully aware of the specific crimes
committed by Netanyahu, Gallant and their subordinates, they contributed
substantially to the commission of those crimes while knowing the intention
of the group to commit the crimes, and intentionally furthering such
criminal activity.

President Biden personally made the transfer of US weapons and funds to
Israel possible within and outside the strict US regulations, including by,
in some cases, bypassing congressional review, preventing public scrutiny
and substantially contributing to the commission of the crimes. He ordered
<https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/10/17/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-the-death-of-yahya-sinwar/>
US intelligence services to “work side-by-side with their Israeli
counterparts” and announced the deployment of US intelligence assets in the
Gaza Strip. He authorised his ambassador to the UN, Linda
Thomas-Greenfield, to veto seven Security Council resolutions, including
those calling for the provision of humanitarian aid, and to abstain in the
voting for all four successful resolutions that attempted to halt or limit
Israeli attacks against civilians in the Gaza Strip since 7 October, 2023.
These vetoes underline President Biden’s role in depriving civilians in the
Gaza Strip of objects indispensable to the survival of the Palestinian
population, a starvation-related crime. Moreover, President Biden
repeatedly made public statements demonstrating his personal and unwavering
support for Israel despite knowledge of its ongoing crimes, even justifying
these crimes as acceptable “self-defence”.

*READ: **Calls for rights orgs to intervene to end torture of Palestinian
prisoners*
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250224-calls-for-rights-orgs-to-intervene-to-end-torture-of-palestinian-prisoners/>

Secretary Blinken personally authorised the transfer of military aid and
direct commercial arms sales to Israel, overriding objections from his own
staff about how such transfers violate US law, despite his knowledge of how
Israel was using these weapons to commit crimes. He thereby intentionally
and substantially contributed to the commission of Israeli crimes in Gaza.
As the US Secretary of State, Blinken’s repeated statements of political
support to Israel, justifying and legitimising its crimes, also encouraged
the commission of the crimes committed by Israeli authorities.

Secretary Austin’s actions and decisions to continuously and purposefully
provide Israel with military and political support satisfy the requirements
for aiding and abetting, as well as facilitating, the crimes committed by
Israeli military forces in the Gaza Strip. The submission details multiple
instances where Secretary Austin repeatedly approved arms sales and
military support for Israel, despite knowledge of how Israel was using
these weapons to commit crimes, in breach of US laws prohibiting arms
transfers for the commission of crimes. He thereby substantially and
intentionally contributed to the commission of these crimes, as Israeli
forces relied heavily on US military support to conduct their unlawful
operations in Gaza. Secretary Austin also consistently emphasised his and
the US government’s unconditional, unwavering support for Israel’s actions
in the Gaza Strip, even in the face of unmistakable evidence of their
crimes.

“The court should hold US officials accountable for their role in
facilitating Israeli crimes, which Israel could not have committed without
US military and political support,” said Whitson.

“By investigating and prosecuting US officials, the ICC can deter and
discourage further international support for Israeli crimes in Gaza and
demonstrate that no one is above the law.”

While the United States, like Israel, is not a member of the ICC, DAWN’s
submission explains why the ICC nevertheless has subject matter,
territorial and geographic jurisdiction over US officials in its ongoing
investigation into violations of the Rome Statute in Palestine. The Court
has jurisdiction over perpetrators of crimes committed in Palestine,
regardless of their nationality or whether the state of which they are a
citizen is a party to the ICC. The submission further details the absence
of complementarity in US courts: that not only are US prosecutors and
courts unable to investigate the crimes committed by US officials in
Palestine, but they are unwilling to do so.

“We have tried every available avenue within the US to stop our
government’s complicity in the outrageous crimes we’ve witnessed since
October 2023 in Gaza,” said Jarrar. “When domestic institutions fail to
uphold black-letter laws prohibiting military support to commit war crimes,
we have a particular responsibility as Americans to hold American officials
accountable for their roles in those crimes.”

DAWN’s submission further urged the prosecutor to examine the role of other
Biden administration officials in aiding and abetting, and contributing to,
violations of the Rome Statute, including: Jake Sullivan, then National
Security Advisor; Gina Raimondo, then Secretary of Commerce; Bonnie
Jenkins, then Under Secretary of Arms Control and International Security;
Stanley L. Brown, acting Assistant Secretary Political-Military Affairs;
Amanda Dory, acting Under Secretary of Defence for Policy; and Mike Miller,
acting Director of the Defence Security Cooperation Agency.

“It is important for the international community, and Palestinians in
particular, to know that the American people do not support the crimes
their elected officials committed in Palestine and that American
organisations are doing their part to hold these officials accountable,”
said Whitson. “We have a duty, not just a right, as American civil society,
to exercise our free speech to serve truth and seek justice.”

*READ: **White House backs Israel’s decision to delay release of
Palestinian prisoners*
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250224-white-house-backs-israels-decision-to-delay-release-of-palestinian-prisoners/>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20250224/24baef92/attachment-0001.htm>