By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – Jewish communal reactions came fast and furious on Thursday to the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on suspicion of war crimes.
The ICC’s declared that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant bear criminal responsibility for the war crime of starvation [in the Gaza conflict] as a method of warfare.”
Responding, Netanyahu’s office said: “The antisemitic decision of the International Criminal Court is a modern Dreyfus trial—and will end the same way. Israel utterly rejects the false and absurd charges of the International Criminal Court, a biased and discriminatory political body. No war is more just than the war Israel has been waging in Gaza since October 7th, 2023, when the Hamas terrorist organization launched a murderous assault and perpetrated the largest massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. The decision to issue an arrest warrant against the prime minister was made by a corrupt chief prosecutor who is trying to save himself from sexual harassment accusations and biased judges who are motivated by antisemitic hatred of Israel….”
Jewish organizations also responded to the ICC decision:
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (COP) – “The International Criminal Court will never be able to expunge the stain of the odious act that it committed today. Israel’s war against the Hamas Terror Army, the butchers of 1,200 Israelis and the captors of 101 hostages, must and will continue until its war aims are met. Along with the Jewish state’s battle against Hezbollah, the Houthis, and the terror state of Iran, this fight is justified in the name of the defense of civilians, the redemption of the hostages, and the campaign against terrorism worldwide. … The Rome Statute, which established the ICC, was nobly inspired by the gruesome mass murder of the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide. In accusing Israel of war crimes, a state in so many ways an heir to and guardian of the memory of the Holocaust, the ICC joins the ranks of antisemites the world over, from Tehran to Gaza City. We utterly reject the ICC’s warrant; we do not recognize it; we will not abide by it; we will never acquiesce to it. We will continue to proudly meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant on our visits to Israel and their visits to America. …”
American Jewish Committee (AJC) – “This reckless, irresponsible decision is a gross distortion of international law that harms the Court’s credibility, completely undermines its core mandate, and emboldens enemies of democracy around the world. Rather than acknowledging the reality that Israel’s military actions in Gaza are solely focused on defeating the internationally recognized terror organization Hamas, securing the safe return of the 101 hostages still held by the terror group, and protecting Israelis from further attack, the Court embraced the false claims that Israel is acting with malicious intent toward Palestinians, restricting humanitarian aid as a tool of punishment, and deliberately attacking and harming civilians. Perversely, the Court even cited Israel’s efforts to increase humanitarian aid entering Gaza in the spring of 2024 as evidence of ill intent, suggesting that prior restrictions had not been dictated by military necessity but intended to cause Palestinian civilians harm. …”
World Jewish Congress: “We firmly believe that this action is fueled by political bias brought about by the influence of terrorist regimes, including Iran. The ICC’s decision not only undermines the pursuit of peace but also disregards the recognized right of a nation to act in self-defense when facing the threat of Hamas, a recognized terrorist organization responsible for the attempted annihilation of Israel’s civilians. We call upon the international community to reject this unjust move by the ICC and not to comply with these arrest warrants. It is imperative that efforts toward achieving lasting peace are not derailed by politically motivated actions. The WJC remains committed to supporting Israel’s right to protect its citizens and to advocating for a fair and unbiased approach to international justice.”
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Former Congressman Matt Gaetz’s withdrawal from consideration on Thursday as U.S. attorney general hadn’t come soon enough to prevent members of the House Ethics Committee from having some hard feelings toward each other. Congressman Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, the ranking Democrat on that committee, said on Wednesday that Congressman Michael Guest, the Mississippi Republican who chairs the committee, had “betrayed the process by disclosing our deliberations within moments after walking out of the committee and he has implied that there was an agreement of the committee not to disclose the report …To the extent that the committee was in agreement or that we had a consensus on that, that is inaccurate.”
The committee had pondered whether to release the results of its probe into Gaetz’s alleged sexual misdeeds and alleged illicit drug use to the U.S. Senate which would have voted to confirm or deny his appointment. The question is now moot. After Gaetz dropped out, President-elect Donald Trump nominated former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi in his stead. She had served as one of Trump’s defense lawyers during his first impeachment.
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Congressman Brad Schneider of Illinois has been elected chairman of the New Democrat Coalition, which occupies the center-left of the Democratic caucus. Its members are to the right of the Progressive Caucus.
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No joshing, the Republican-dominated legislatures of North Carolina and Pennsylvania are giving their respective governors—Josh Stein, who was just elected, and Josh Shapiro, who is an incumbent – a partisan hard time. The North Carolinians transferred the power to appoint members of the state election board from the governor to the state auditor. The Pennsylvanians are demanding that Shapiro declare whether he favors or opposes the purchase of U.S. Steel, based in Pittsburgh, by Nippon Steel, a Japanese company. President Joe Biden has opposed the sale, preferring U.S. Steel continue to be owned domestically.
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The House of Representatives by a 219-184 vote on Thursday approved anti-terror legislation co-sponsored by Congressmen Brad Schneider (D-Illinois) and David Kustoff (R-Tennessee) that has found Jewish non-profit organizations arrayed on both sides of the issue. The measure would empower the Secretary of the Treasury to revoke the tax-exempt status of any non-profit deemed to be a “terrorist-supporting organization.” AIPAC, and the Republican Jewish Coalition supported the measure, with the Anti-Defamation League giving it conditional support provided due process measures are implemented.
Meanwhile, organs of the Reform and Conservative Jewish movements have opposed it, along with Hadassah, National Council of Jewish Women, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, J-Street and the New Israel Fund. In a letter signed by 55 Jewish groups, large and small, opponents argued that “No individual, including a Treasury secretary, should be given nearly unfettered power to remove an organization’s tax-exempt status. We urge you to seek solutions that make the nation safer, instead of advancing those that threaten constitutional right.”
Marshall Wittmann, a spokesman for AIPAC, said the opponents had mischaracterized the legislation. “It is carefully targeted at organizations which actually support U.S. designated foreign terrorist organizations.”
The controversy now goes to the U.S. Senate.
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) reportedly has struck a deal with Republican Senate leadership to advance President Biden’s nominees for district judgeships to a Senate floor vote, but to hold back the President’s nominees for appeals court positions.
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Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and FBI Director Christopher Wray declined to testify in public Thursday at the Senate Homeland Security hearing on current threats. They offered to appear at a closed-door hearing instead. Their refusal sparked anger from Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, who chairs the committee, and Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, who is the ranking member. Sen. Josh Hawley a Missouri Republican, said “The Senate should subpoena them immediately and hold them in contempt.”
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Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) reportedly is mulling a bid to be elected as the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, a move that would pit him against a fellow Jewish member of Congress, Jerrold Nadler of New York. Seeking reelection, Nadler, meanwhile, promised in a letter to his colleagues to “stand as a bulwark against the MAGA Majority’s dangerous agenda.”
INTERNATIONAL
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky reports that Russia fired an intercontinental ballistic missile at Ukraine, the first use of such a weapon in the two nations’ ongoing war. He said Russian President Vladimir Putin is using Ukraine as a “testing ground” for advanced weaponry. This one reportedly caused negligible damage.
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Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir paid a publicized visit to the grave of Meir Kahane, who the United States and Israel branded as a terrorist. The U.S. State Department called his veneration of Kahane “abhorrent,” adding, “We strongly condemn any attempt to whitewash acts of terrorism.”
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Israel’s Former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked was denied entry to Australia, where she had been scheduled to address the Australia/ Israel and Jewish Affairs Council. Protesting the decision, the group’s chief executive Colin Rubenstein called the action a “disgraceful act of hostility towards a democratic ally.”
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Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum told a news conference on Thursday, “In case there are deportations (from the U.S. under President-elect Trump’s mass-deportation policy), we are going to receive Mexicans, and we have a plan for that. We don’t agree that migrants should be treated as criminals.” Before Trump takes office on January 20, Mexico plans to make a presentation on how important Mexicans working in the U.S. are to the American economy.
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World