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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250224-icc-asked-to-investigate-biden-and-other-former-us-officials-for-complicity-in-war-crimes/">middleeastmonitor.com</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">ICC asked to investigate Biden and other former US officials for complicity in war crimes</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Middle East Monitor</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">February 24, 2025</div>
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<p>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.</p>
<p>The NGO submitted a <a href="https://dawnmena.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/DAWN-ICC-A15-COMM_19Jan2025-1.pdf">172-page communication</a>
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.</p>
<p>“There are solid grounds to investigate Joe Biden, Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin for complicity in Israel’s crimes,” said <a href="https://dawnmena.org/about/who-we-are-2/reed-brody/">Reed Brody</a>,
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.”</p>
<p>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 <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/2024-05/Rome-Statute-eng.pdf">Rome Statute</a>,
both aiding and abetting and intentionally contributing to crimes
committed by Israeli officials in Gaza. These crimes include those
identified in the arrest <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-rejects-state-israels-challenges">warrants</a>
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.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>On 6 February, 2025, US President Donald Trump issued an executive <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/imposing-sanctions-on-the-international-criminal-court/">order</a>
for sanctions against ICC officials to punish them for their
investigation of Israeli officials, and on 13 February, the Treasury
Department <a href="https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20250213">sanctioned</a>
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 <a href="https://www.newsbreak.com/time-510072/3796998931334-how-trump-can-redeem-his-gaza-fiasco">plan</a> to forcibly displace all Palestinians from Gaza and to take over the territory.</p>
<blockquote><p>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.</p></blockquote>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p><b>READ: </b><a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250224-houses-set-ablaze-by-israeli-attacks-on-gaza/"><b>Houses set ablaze by Israeli attacks on Gaza</b></a></p>
<p>DAWN submitted its 19 January communication in response to the Prosecutor’s 17 November, 2023 <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-prosecutor-international-criminal-court-karim-aa-khan-kc-situation-state-palestine">call</a>
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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<blockquote><p>The submission demonstrates that Biden, Blinken, and Austin were aware of how their assistance would be used to commit crimes.</p></blockquote>
<p>Since October 2023, <a href="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">US</a> and <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/gallant-we-cant-say-no-to-the-us-on-humanitarian-aid-given-how-much-they-do-for-us/">Israeli</a>
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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>The submission provides extensive evidence showing how President
Biden, Secretary Blinken and Secretary Austin fulfilled the material (<i>actus reus</i>) and mental (<i>mens rea</i>)
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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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 <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/10/17/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-the-death-of-yahya-sinwar/">ordered</a>
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”.</p>
<p><b>READ: </b><a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250224-calls-for-rights-orgs-to-intervene-to-end-torture-of-palestinian-prisoners/"><b>Calls for rights orgs to intervene to end torture of Palestinian prisoners</b></a></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<blockquote><p>“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.”</p></blockquote>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
<p><b>READ: </b><a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250224-white-house-backs-israels-decision-to-delay-release-of-palestinian-prisoners/"><b>White House backs Israel’s decision to delay release of Palestinian prisoners</b></a></p>
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