国务卿安东尼·布林肯谴责了国际刑事法院的逮捕令申请对于以色列官员和哈马斯特工来说，称法院检察官的行为将以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡和哈马斯领导人叶海亚·辛瓦尔“可耻地等同起来”。
“那决定呢...布林肯周二在参议院外交关系委员会的预算听证会上告诉立法者。
他说，国际刑事法院首席检察官卡里姆·汗提交的逮捕令对正在进行的谈判提出了挑战，谈判的目的是释放哈马斯扣押的人质并停止以色列在加沙的进攻。以色列国防军目前正在加沙南部城市进行军事行动，威胁着拉法。
国际刑事法院周一宣布，将寻求对内塔尼亚胡、辛瓦尔、另一名以色列领导人和另外两名哈马斯领导人发出逮捕令。汗声称他们对加沙的“战争罪和反人类罪”负有“刑事责任”。
美国和以色列没有签署《罗马规约》，该规约使国际刑事法院制度化，并授权其起诉犯有战争罪的个人。
“我认为仍然有可能达成交易”，布林肯说。“但它受到了一系列事件的挑战，我不得不说，是的，的确是这样，国际刑事法院检察官昨天做出了极其错误的决定，哈马斯和以色列领导人之间存在可耻的对等关系。我认为这只会让达成这样一项协议的前景变得更加复杂。”
美国最高外交官表示，会谈“在很多场合都非常非常接近”，而且还没有结束。“我们仍在努力，”他周二对参议员们表示。
布林肯回答了持不同观点的参议员提出的问题，其中包括民主党人，他们认为拜登政府应该更直接地评估以色列犯下了战争罪，还有一些共和党人表示，政府对这种观点过于迁就。他对美国没有充分维护与以色列和其他国家的联盟、未能保护加沙平民的观点进行了反驳。
当布林肯开始作证时，当抗议者称布林肯为“战犯”时，听证室爆发出一阵骚动，显然这让国务卿大吃一惊。
随后，爱达荷州共和党最高委员会参议员詹姆斯·里施邀请布林肯与参议员合作制定一项可能制裁国际刑事法院的立法。
“让我们看看吧。我们想和你一起工作，”布林肯告诉里施。
“正如你所说，魔鬼在细节中，所以让我们看看你得到了什么，”他补充道。
布林肯告诉立法者，加沙的和平仍然因沙特和以色列之间的关键外交僵局而变得复杂。
布林肯说:“沙特要求在加沙停火，并建立一个巴勒斯坦国，以色列很可能无法、也不愿意沿着这条道路前进。”。
布林肯星期一对另一个参议员小组说，他与国际刑事法院取得了联系，表达了他对以色列官员可能被起诉的担忧。
内塔尼亚胡周二称法院检察官申请逮捕令的计划是“荒谬的”，并表示这给法院蒙上了“可怕的污点”。内塔尼亚胡周二在“早安美国”节目中说，他的国家没有“故意的饥饿政策”，国际刑事法院检察官详细描述的指控是“荒谬的”。
“事实上，我们有相反的政策，允许最大限度的人道主义援助使人们脱离危险，”他说，“而哈马斯却在枪口下尽一切努力让他们处于危险之中。”
白宫周二表示，在国际刑事法院提交逮捕令申请后，它正在与国会就“下一步措施”进行谈判，不过它没有透露是否支持对国际刑事法院实施制裁。
当记者周二在空军一号上问及乔·拜登总统是否支持国会共和党人准备立法制裁国际刑事法院时，白宫新闻秘书卡琳·让·皮埃尔抨击了授权申请，但没有直接回答这个问题。
让-皮埃尔说:“国际刑事法院检察官对以色列领导人发出逮捕令的申请令人愤慨。“我们从根本上拒绝它。”
“所以，我们正在讨论，对于你的问题，与...让-皮埃尔补充道:“我不会提前讨论这些问题。
拜登周一称法院的申请“令人愤慨”。
拜登说:“让我明确一点:无论这位检察官可能暗示什么，以色列和哈马斯之间没有对等关系——一点也没有。
Blinken calls ICC warrants 'wrongheaded,' says they complicate efforts for Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal
Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned theInternational Criminal Court's application for arrest warrantsfor Israeli officials and Hamas operatives, saying the court prosecutor's actions make a "shameful equivalence" between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
"That decision ... on so many levels is totally wrongheaded," Blinken told lawmakers Tuesday during a budget hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
He said ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan's filing for warrants has challenged ongoing negotiations to free hostages taken by Hamas and cease an Israeli offensive in Gaza, where the Israel Defense Forces currently threaten Rafah amid Israel's ongoing military operation in the southern Gaza city.
The ICC on Monday announced it would seek to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Sinwar, another Israeli leader and two other Hamas leaders. Khan alleged they "bear criminal responsibility" for "war crimes and crimes against humanity" in Gaza.
The United States and Israel are not signatories to the Rome Statute, which institutionalized the international court and empowers it to prosecute individuals for war crimes.
"I think that there's still a possibility [of a deal]," Blinken said. "But It's challenged by a number of events, and I have to say, yes indeed, the extremely wrongheaded decision by the ICC prosecutor yesterday, the shameful equivalence implied between Hamas and the leadership of Israel. I think that only complicates the prospects for getting such an agreement."
America's top diplomat said talks "have come very, very close on a number of occasions" and are not dead. "We remain at it," he told senators Tuesday.
Blinken took questions from senators with a range of views, including Democrats who felt the Biden administration should more directly assess that Israel has committed war crimes, and some Republicans who say the administration is too accommodating to such perspectives. He hedged against ideas the U.S. is not sufficiently upholding its alliance with Israel and others that it's failing to secure protection for civilians in Gaza.
When Blinken began his testimony, the hearing room erupted with commotion when protesters called Blinken a "war criminal" and visibly startled the secretary.
Later, Idaho Sen. James Risch, the top committee Republican, invited Blinken to work with senators on legislation that reports suggest could sanction the ICC.
"Let's look at it. We want to work with you," Blinken told Risch.
"As you say, the devil's in the details, so let's see what you got," he added.
Blinken told lawmakers that peace in Gaza remains complicated by a key diplomatic impasse between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
"The Saudis demand a cease-fire in Gaza and a pathway to a Palestinian state, and it may well be that Israel isn't able, willing to proceed down this pathway," Blinken said.
Blinken told a separate panel of senators Monday he made contact with the ICC to express his concerns about potential prosecution of Israeli officials.
Netanyahu on Tuesday called the court prosecutor's plan to apply for arrest warrants "absurd" and said it was casting a "terrible stain" on the court. His country didn't have a "deliberate starvation policy" and the charges detailed by the ICC prosecutor were "fallacious," Netanyahu said Tuesday on "Good Morning America."
"In fact, we have the opposite policy, to allow maximum humanitarian aid to get people out of harm's way," he said, "while Hamas is doing everything to keep them in harm's way at gunpoint."
The White House said Tuesday it's in talks with Congress on "next steps" following the ICC's arrest warrant application, though it would not say if it supported imposing sanctions on the court.
When asked by reporters Tuesday aboard Air Force One if President Joe Biden supported congressional Republicans preparing legislation to sanction the ICC, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre slammed the warrant application but did not directly answer the question.
"The ICC prosecutor's application for arrest warrants against Israel leaders is outrageous," Jean-Pierre said. "We fundamentally reject it."
"So, we're having discussions, to your questions, with ... the Hill on the next steps, so I'm not going to get ahead of those discussions," Jean-Pierre added.
Biden on Monday called the court's application "outrageous."
"And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence -- none -- between Israel and Hamas," Biden said.
