Many of us would lay down our lives for Amal Clooney, first and foremost her husband George, a famous actor and expert casino heistman. Recently, Amal added “advisor to The Hague” to her lengthy list of accomplishments, and George, it seems, is here to make sure the President of the United States doesn’t punish her for it.
Let’s back up. In May, Amal was one of eight experts who published a review of the International Criminal Court’s investigation into war crimes committed by both Hamas and Israeli officials. (When people say that someone should be tried at The Hague, they are referring to the ICC, which sits in The Hague, Netherlands.) The panel, which was reportedly convened by the ICC’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan, cited evidence that Israeli officials had intentionally targeted civilians, mainly by starving them and blocking humanitarian aid, and also stated that Hamas had taken at least 245 people hostage and committed crimes against humanity including sexual violence and torture. Acting on the panel’s approval, Khan requested arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders and two Israeli officials, including the country’s president Benjamin Netanyahu. If approved by the ICC’s judges, the warrants would immediately limit travel for the accused to the court’s 124 member nations (which do not include the U.S. or Israel).
In a statement, Amal said of her and her colleagues’ findings, “I will never accept that one child’s life has less value than another’s. I do not accept that any conflict should be beyond the reach of the law, nor that any perpetrator should be above the law. I hope justice will prevail in a region that has already suffered too much.”
The ICC and its advisory panel are far from the first governmental organizations to call Israel’s actions in the Gaza strip, which have killed an estimated 33,000 people, two-thirds of them women and children, war crimes. But President Biden called Khan’s warrant applications “outrageous,” telling the Washington Post, “Whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.” Netanyahu, meanwhile, also called the warrant for his own arrest “outrageous.” GOP lawmakers swiftly pushed to impose sanctions on the ICC, a decision the Biden administration initially seemed on board with — Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly told Republican senator Lindsey Graham the day after the report came out that he would “welcome working with you on” sanctioning the ICC. On the same day, though, White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that Biden’s administration didn’t “believe that sanctions against the ICC is the right approach here.” Since then, the White House has maintained that, while the ICC’s decision was an “overreach,” it does not support punishing the organization with sanctions.
But that did not do much to placate the head of Hollywood’s salt-and-pepper hair council. George Clooney was apparently pissed at the prospect of Biden — whose presidential candidacy he endorsed and fundraised for in 2020 — potentially placing sanctions on his wife. Amal is not technically part of the ICC, but according to the Washington Post, George was still concerned about whether Biden would come after her for publicly supporting Khan’s decision to pursue the arrests. He reportedly called Steve Ricchetti, one of Biden’s top aides, to criticize Biden’s use of the word “outrageous” and defend the work of his wife and her colleagues. Per the Post, Biden’s campaign team was concerned Clooney would pull out of a major mid-June fundraiser he’s participating in, which involves meeting with a contest winner alongside Julia Roberts and Barack Obama. He’s reportedly still on track to attend — though something tells me partners won’t be there.
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- Amal Clooney Reviewed Evidence of War Crimes in Gaza
Danielle Cohen , 2024-06-08 02:39:52
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