WASHINGTON: US lawmakers’ push to penalise international courts for curbing Israel’s aggression against Palestinians have sparked criticism of their apparent double standards.

As many as 121 human rights and civil society groups penned a letter to the White House this week, urging President Biden to “oppose any legislative efforts to undermine” the International Criminal Court (ICC) for seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In their letter to Biden, the groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, emphasised the ICC’s crucial role in ensuring justice for grave international crimes.

They also urged the Biden administration to denounce recent threats by some US lawmakers to sanction ICC officials if arrest warrants were pursued against top Israeli officials acc­used of war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

“Acting on these calls would do grave harm to the interests of all victims globally and to the US government’s ability to champion human rights and the cause of justice, which are stated priorities of your administration,” it said.

“Full respect for the ICC is necessary for it to provide justice for victims,” the letter emphasized. “A selective approach to judicial decisions undermines the credibility, and ultimately, the force of the law as a shield against human rights violations and abuses.”

“We urge you to oppose any legislative efforts to undermine the ICC, and to make clear that regardless of its views on specific ICC investigations, the United States continues to support independent international justice mechanisms,” the letter concluded.

In previous statements, Amnesty International has also called on the US to “end its double standard of failing to criticise the human rights records of security partners”.

It reminded Washington that its annual human rights reports on other countries would “ring hollow unless it also upholds human rights at home.”

Washington’s silence criticised

Meanwhile, The Washington Post highlighted Washington’s silence after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to fulfill its obligations under the Genocide Convention and immediately halt its offensive in Rafah.

“This silence is in stark contrast” to the Biden administration’s “effusive welcome” of a nearly identical ICJ ruling in March 2022, which ordered Russia to immediately suspend its military operations in Ukraine, The Post pointed out.

Even within the US Congress, progressive lawmakers criticised a bipartisan move to sanction the ICC for declaring Netanyahu a war criminal.

“It’s profoundly disturbing,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, told reporters. “It is an alarming precedent to attack institutions responsible for litigating international law,” she added.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, defended the ICC’s global role, emphasising its independence and expert consultations.

Simon Tisdal, an assistant editor of The Guardian, pointed out the inconsistency in condemning some leaders while avoiding accountability for others.

Commenting on the ICJ’s order to Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah, he wrote: “The message is clear: Impunity cannot stand. No one, however powerful, is above the law.”

Omar Shakir, Middle East director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), emp­hasised the urgency of the situation.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2024