International

US signals support for possible ICC sanctions over Israel warrants

Published

1 month ago

May 22, 2024

US signals support for possible ICC sanctions over Israel warrants

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has suggested he will work with lawmakers on potential sanctions against the International Criminal Court as its prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials.

Mr Blinken told a congressional hearing he was “committed” to taking action against the “profoundly wrong-headed decision”.

His comments come amid a Republican push to impose sanctions on ICC officials, which may see a vote as soon as this week.

The United States is not a member of the court but has backed previous prosecutions, including the ICC’s arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine.

At a Tuesday hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, James Risch, its top Republican, asked whether Mr Blinken would support legislation to address the ICC “sticking its nose in the business of countries that have an independent, legitimate, democratic judicial system”.

“We want to work with you on a bipartisan basis to find an appropriate response. I’m committed to doing that,” the secretary of state said.

Mr Blinken said “there’s no question we have to look at the appropriate steps to take to deal with, again, what is a profoundly wrong-headed decision”.

The ICC’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced on Monday that he had applied for arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

READ ALSO:

Mr Khan is also seeking arrest warrants for three Hamas officials – Yahya Sinwar, its leader in Gaza, Mohammed Deif, the commander of its Qassam Brigades military wing, and Ismail Haniyeh, the head of its political bureau.

US President Joe Biden said on Monday it was “outrageous” to apply for arrest warrants. There was “no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas”, he added.

Mr Blinken’s remarks echoed the broader pushback in Washington over the court’s decision.

At least two measures imposing sanctions on the ICC had already been introduced in Congress as the court ramped up its inquiry into Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza.

Support on Capitol Hill appears to be coalescing around a bill launched earlier this month by Texas Republican Chip Roy.

The Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act would target ICC officials involved with the case by blocking their entry to the US, revoking any current US visas they hold, and prohibiting them from any property transactions within the country – unless the court ceases its cases against “protected persons of the United States and its allies”.

At least 37 lawmakers in the Republican-led House are now co-sponsoring the legislation, including Elise Stefanik, the chamber’s third highest-ranking Republican.

Ms Stefanik is fresh off a visit to Israel, where she met with Mr Netanyahu, spoke at the Knesset and met with the families of hostages trapped in Gaza.

The court “equivocates a peaceful nation protecting its right to exist with radical terror groups that commit genocide”, she told the BBC in a statement.

Andy Barr of Kentucky, another Republican supporting the bill, said further pursuit of the ICC’s case against Israel must “be met with the full force of our sanctions”.

Less clear, however, is whether Democratic lawmakers will get behind the effort.

The party’s moderate and liberal wings have grappled with Mr Biden’s Israel policy for months, as young progressive voters have pushed the president to more sharply criticise the Netanyahu government’s operations in Gaza.

READ ALSO:

Ohio’s Greg Landsman, one of a few Democrats who voted last week to reverse Mr Biden’s pause on a weapons shipment to Israel, told the BBC he hopes Congress will issue a bipartisan rebuke of the ICC “to send the strongest message possible”.

“The decision [to seek arrest warrants] will only further inflame tensions and divisions, embolden anti-Israel conspiracies, and ultimately, it will undermine the credibility of the ICC,” he said in a statement.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson urged Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, to sign a letter on Tuesday inviting Mr Netanyahu to address a joint meeting of Congress.

In March, Mr Schumer called for new elections in Israel but he described the ICC’s case on Monday as “reprehensible”.

Sen Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the BBC that he was unsure about moves to sanction ICC officials.

“I’m not there yet imposing sanctions on the ICC, as opposed to looking to see whether the off ramp of a ruling by the judges of the ICC that they’re not going to proceed with warrants is something I think may come in the next couple of days,” the Democrat said.

But Mr Coons added that he is discussing taking action with his committee colleagues from both parties.

But some left-wing Democrats have expressed their support for the ICC’s actions.

Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar said the court’s allegations are “significant” and the US must support its work as it has done on past occasions, including in the case of Libya.

“The application for arrest warrants is merely the beginning of a judicial process,” she wrote in a statement on Monday.

“The ICC has been a functioning court – it has seen convictions, acquittals, and dismissals, as we would expect from an impartial and non-political judicial body.”

It remains unclear whether any sanction efforts have yet gathered the support needed to advance through either the Republican-led House or the Democrat-controlled Senate.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday that administration officials were discussing “next steps” with lawmakers.

Watching from across the world in Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that its adversary’s “attitude and willingness to use sanctions methods even against the ICC” was “more than curious”.

US signals support for possible ICC sanctions over Israel warrants

International

Biden faces donor pressure in his re-election bid

Published

16 hours ago

July 5, 2024

Trends Admin

U.S. President Joe Biden

Biden faces donor pressure in his re-election bid

President Joe Biden is facing pressure from some major Democratic donors as he faces a critical few days in his campaign for re-election.

A number of donors are publicly warning they will withhold funds unless Mr Biden is replaced as the party’s candidate following his disastrous debate performance last week.

They include Abigail Disney, an heiress to the Disney family fortune, Hollywood producer Damon Lindelof, Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel, and philanthropist and entrepreneur Gideon Stein.

Mr Biden is seeking to shore up his candidacy this weekend, including with a rare primetime TV interview on Friday and a rally in Wisconsin.

Pressure on Mr Biden, 81, to step aside has grown following a debate marked by several instances where he lost his train of thought and was incomprehensible.

While he admitted that he “screwed up” that night, he has vowed to stay on as his party’s standard-bearer taking on Donald Trump in the November presidential election.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said on Thursday at a White House gathering marking 4 July Independence Day in the US.

Ms Disney told the US business news channel CNBC that she did not believe that Mr Biden could win against Trump in November.

She said her intent to pull support was rooted in “realism, not disrespect”.

READ ALSO:

“Biden is a good man and has served his country admirably, but the stakes are far too high,” Ms Disney, who has supported a number of Democrats and Democratic causes over the years, said.

“If Biden does not step down the Democrats will lose. Of that I am absolutely certain. The consequences for the loss will be genuinely dire.”

With her warning, she joined a handful of other wealthy donors.

Mr Stein told the New York Times that his family was withholding $3.5m (£2.8m) to non-profit and political organisations active in the presidential race unless Mr Biden steps aside.

Mr Lindelof, who has donated more than $100,000 to Democrats this election cycle, wrote a public essay urging other donors to withhold their funds in what he dubbed a “DEMbargo”.

“When they text you asking for cash, text back that you’re not giving them a penny and you won’t change your mind until there’s change at the top of the ticket,” Mr Lindelof wrote in Deadline.

Mr Emanuel – the brother of Rahm Emanuel, a former Barack Obama chief of staff – told a conference in Colorado that withholding funding was the key to ensuring Mr Biden’s exit from the race, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

“The lifeblood to a campaign is money, and maybe the only way . . . is if the money starts drying up,” he said, according to the newspaper.

“You’ll see in the next couple weeks, if the money comes in . . . I talked to a bunch of big donors, and they’re moving all their money to Congress and the Senate.”

Some other major donors have not threatened to cut funding but are putting public pressure on the president to withdraw.

Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix and one of the biggest donors to the Democratic Party, told US media that Mr Biden “needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous”.

Others have expressed concerns about the possibility of a damaging and chaotic race to replace Mr Biden if he does leave.

Ramesh Kapur, a Massachusetts-based Indian-American industrialist, has organised fundraisers for Democrats since 1988.

“I think it’s time for him to pass the torch,” Mr Kapur told the BBC this week. “I know he has the drive, but you can’t fight Mother Nature.”

“What I know of him, he will decide what’s good for the country,” he added.

READ ALSO:

There are some who are worried there’s not enough time left for a new candidate to join the race, and they have decided to back Biden if he stays on.

A mega-donor the BBC spoke to this week, who declined to be named, said he planned to go ahead with a fundraiser for the president scheduled for later this month at his Virginia home.

“We all want to keep Donald Trump out of the White House, and probably that will keep us together,” he said.

The Biden campaign has said it raised $38m from debate day through to the weekend, mainly through small donations – and a total of $127m in June alone.

The Biden team and the president have conceded he had a difficult debate but have said he is ready to show the public he has the stamina for the campaign.

On Friday, he is scheduled to sit down with ABC – the first television interview after the debate – to help quell concerns about his age and mental faculties.

He will also travel to Madison, Wisconsin to campaign with Governor Tony Evers.

But the president is facing a series of negative polls which suggest his Republican rival’s lead has widened in the wake of the Atlanta debate.

A New York Times poll published on Wednesday suggested Trump was now holding his biggest lead yet at six points.

And a separate poll published by the BBC’s US partner CBS News suggested a slight shift towards Trump, who had a three-point lead over Mr Biden in the crucial battleground states.

Brajesh Upadhyay contributed to this report

Biden faces donor pressure in his re-election bid

BBC

International

Coastguards recover 89 bodies of migrants from sunk boat in Atlantic

Published

16 hours ago

July 5, 2024

Trends Admin

Coastguards recover 89 bodies of migrants from sunk boat in Atlantic

Coastguards in Mauritania have recovered 89 bodies of migrants from a boat that capsized in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday.

Nine people – including a five-year-old girl – were rescued, but dozens more are missing.

Survivors say the vessel – a traditional fishing boat – set sail last week from the Senegalese-Gambian border area with 170 people on board. It capsized off Mauritania’s south-western coast.

Mauritania is a key transit point for migrants trying to reach Europe from West Africa, with thousands of boats departing from the country last year.

READ ALSO:

The most common destination on the perilous route is Spain’s Canary Islands.

The Spanish government says nearly 40,000 people arrived there last year – double the number from the previous year.

Desperate to get to Europe, migrants often travel in overloaded boats.

More than 5,000 migrants died while trying to reach Spain by sea in the first five months of 2024, the Ca-minando Fronteras charity estimates.

In April, the EU granted Mauritania €210m (£177m; $225m) in aid – almost €60m of which will be invested in the fight against undocumented migration to Europe.

Coastguards recover 89 bodies of migrants from sunk boat in Atlantic

BBC

International

Keir Starmer set to become next UK prime minister after Labour historic win

Published

17 hours ago

July 5, 2024

Trends Admin

Keir Starmer

Keir Starmer set to become next UK prime minister after Labour historic win

The United Kingdom’s Labour Party swept to power early on Friday after winning the country’s general election, crossing the 326-seat threshold for a working majority in the House of Commons.

“A mandate like this comes with a great responsibility,” Labour leader Keir Starmer told supporters at a triumphant dawn rally in London, moments after the results that sealed its landslide win were announced.

BBC reports that as the final figures come in, Labour is expected to win 410 seats, with the Conservatives on 144.

READ ALSO:

Also, Rishi Sunak has accepted defeat, and said he called Starmer to congratulate him.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister-elect, Keir Starmer, has pledged to start a period of “national renewal” in the UK after his opposition Labour Party defeated the ruling Conservatives in the general election.

“Today we start the next chapter — begin the work of change, the mission of national renewal and start to rebuild our country,” Starmer said in a triumphant victory speech in London after his party secured a majority in parliament.