US threatens ICC, warning 'If they [prosecute] Israel, we're next!'

.with Transcript 

.

he International Criminal Court (ICC) has applied for an arrest warrant for Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu over crimes against humanity in Gaza. The Biden administration is threatening sanctions on Prosecutor Karim Khan. US Senator Lindsey Graham warned, "if they'll do this to Israel, we’re next!" Ben Norton discusses Washington's extreme hypocrisy and shows the real face of the so-called "rules-based international order". US politicians threaten to invade Int'l Criminal Court if Israel faces war crimes charges:    • US politicians threaten to invade Int...   US senator says Israel should drop nuclear bombs on Gaza:    • US senator says Israel should drop nu...   Intro 0:00 "We're next!" 0:15 ICC seeks to arrest Israeli officials 1:50 US gov't threatens ICC 4:08 Lindsey Graham quote: "if they'll do this to Israel, we’re next!" 5:01 Protest 5:27 Bipartisan barbarism 6:57 Karim Khan dropped previous investigation into US/NATO war crimes 8:26 Both sides-ism 9:35 ICC charges against PM Netanyahu & DM Yoav Gallant 10:38 ICJ or ICC? 11:59 Western officials says ICC "was built for Africa" 12:39 Netanyahu responds: "No one will stop us" 13:16 20,000 US citizens in IDF 14:04 Israel is an outpost of the US empire 15:29 Biden, Blinken, & Republicans agree 16:54 Trump imposed sanctions on ICC 18:53 US hypocritically backs ICC charges against Putin 20:15 US & Israel: rogue states 22:57 Outro

TRANSCRIPTS

so we hopefully together will find a way

0:04

to uh restor our displeasure with the

0:06

ICC because if they'll do this to Israel

0:08

we're next this group tried to come

0:11

after our soldiers yeah you can clap all

0:13

you want to the international criminal

ICC seeks to arrest Israeli officials

0:16

court at the hag has officially applied

0:19

for arrest warrants for Israel's prime

0:22

minister and defense minister charging

0:25

them with war crimes and crimes against

0:29

humanity this is absolutely historic as

0:32

was pointed out by the newswire Reuters

0:36

it cited a veteran war crimes prosecutor

0:39

who said quote this is a watershed event

0:42

in the history of international Justice

0:46

the ICC has never in over 21 years of

0:49

existence indicted a western official

0:53

indeed no International tribunal since

0:57

nurmberg after World War II has done so

1:01

in fact until 2016 only Africans had

1:05

been tried at the ICC and that's why

1:08

many African leaders condemned it as

1:10

essentially a colonial institution the

1:13

current prosecutor of the IC revealed in

1:16

an interview on CNN that Western

1:18

governments were pressuring him not to

1:21

charge Israeli officials over their war

1:23

crimes and he said that a senior Western

1:27

Government official told him that the IC

1:30

was built for Africa and thugs like

1:34

Putin not the West so here we can

1:37

clearly see the double standards of the

1:40

western so-called democracies that boast

1:43

about the so-called rules-based

1:45

International order in which they made

1:48

the rules and Order everyone else around

US gov't threatens ICC

1:51

and now that top us allies in Israel are

1:54

facing ICC charges the Biden

1:57

Administration is openly threatening to

2:00

impose sanctions on the IC which is

2:04

exactly what the Donald Trump

2:05

Administration did in fact before the IC

2:08

prosecutor filed these arrest warrants

2:11

against top Israeli officials there were

2:13

rumors going around that he was

2:14

preparing to do so and US government

2:17

officials wrote an open letter

2:19

threatening to invade the heg if Israeli

2:24

officials faced any consequences I made

2:26

a video about that which I will link to

2:28

in the description below the US

2:30

government passed a law back in 2002

2:33

that's known as the heg Invasion act in

2:36

which the US said that it will invade

2:39

the heg in the Netherlands and

2:41

physically remove any Us official or an

2:44

official from a western Ally Who faces

2:47

charges at the IC and 20 years later now

2:52

us officials are bringing back this

2:54

legislation and threatening once again

2:57

to potentially invade the heg to try to

3:00

save Israeli officials from the

3:02

consequences of their war crimes and why

3:05

is the US government so afraid because

3:07

they know that if Israeli officials who

3:10

are supported by the US are arrested and

3:14

prosecuted for their crimes against

3:16

humanity the US government is directly

3:19

complicit in those crimes it is the US

3:22

government that is giving Israel

3:24

billions of dollars of weapons and

3:26

Military assistance that it's using to

3:29

kill civilians in Gaza it's the US

3:32

government that is protecting Israel on

3:34

the international stage vetoing

3:36

resolutions in the UN Security Council

3:38

that call for peace and a ceasefire and

3:41

in fact a US senator admitted this

3:44

openly the Republican lawmaker Lindsey

3:47

Graham let the cat out of the bag and

3:50

this may in a senate hearing he said the

3:53

quiet part loud and admitted that if

3:56

Israel and Israeli officials are

3:58

prosecuted for war crimes we could be

4:02

next the United States could be next

4:06

here is this very revealing clip so we

Lindsey Graham quote: "if they'll do this to Israel, we’re next!"

4:10

hopefully together will find a way to

4:13

rest our displeasure with the IC cuz if

4:15

they'll do this to Israel we're next

4:18

this group tried to come after our

4:19

soldiers yeah you can clap all you want

4:22

to they tried to come after our soldiers

4:25

in Afghanistan but reason prevailed so

4:28

at the end of the day here what I hope

4:29

to happen is that we level sanctions

4:32

against the IC for this outrage to not

4:34

only help our friends in Israel but

4:36

protect oursel over time Miss secretary

4:38

your statement yesterday was excellent

4:41

the president's statement was excellent

4:43

Senator Schumer's statement on the floor

4:45

was excellent about the outrage here

4:47

they have destroyed the notion of

4:49

complimentarity they have misled people

4:51

in the United St States SS about their

4:54

intention and they shall and will pay a

4:56

price Mr secretary I appreciate what

4:59

you've said is it's now time for us to

5:00

act by the way a quick point about that

Protest

5:02

clip for people who are confused when

5:04

Lindsey Graham said that if they do this

5:07

to Israel will be next and then people

5:10

started clapping obviously it was not

5:12

Senators who were clapping about that it

5:15

was actually protesters from the peace

5:17

group code pink who were protesting at

5:20

this event and accusing us government

5:23

officials of being complicit in the war

5:25

crimes in Gaza now there are a few

Bipartisan barbarism

5:28

things to respond to there first of all

5:30

Lindsey Graham is a republican an ally

5:33

of Donald Trump and the only thing that

5:36

he and Democrats ever agree on is war

5:40

sanctions extremely aggressive foreign

5:43

policy and here we can see that this

5:46

Republican Lindsey Graham is praising

5:49

multiple Democrats including Biden the

5:51

president the Secretary of State Anthony

5:53

blinkin he was even praising his

5:55

adversary in the Senate the Democratic

5:58

majority leader of and the Senate Chuck

6:00

Schumer so we can see very clearly that

6:03

the US Government Can Only agree on

6:05

bipartisan policy when it's in support

6:08

of war crimes and Imperial expansion

6:11

abroad and I should also point out that

6:13

just a few days before Lindsey gram made

6:16

those comments in an interview on TV he

6:19

called on Israel to drop nuclear bombs

6:23

on Gaza I did a separate video and

6:26

report about that which I will link to

6:27

in the description below it shows how

6:30

people like Lindsey Graham senators and

6:33

Congress people from both the Republican

6:35

and Democratic parties are extreme War

6:38

Hawks and war criminals and that's why

6:41

US government officials are so afraid

6:44

now that the IC has applied for arrest

6:47

warrants against their top allies in

6:49

Israel because as Lindsey Graham said

6:52

they know they could be next they could

6:54

actually face consequences for their war

Karim Khan dropped previous investigation into US/NATO war crimes

6:57

crimes and in the comments that he made

6:59

made in that Senate hearing Lindsey

7:01

Graham pointed out that previously the

7:04

ICC had opened an investigation into the

7:08

US Military and NATO forces over the war

7:11

crimes they committed in the Afghanistan

7:13

war however what happened in

7:16

2021 the IC dropped those investigations

7:21

into us and NATO war crimes in

7:24

Afghanistan and by the way the ICC

7:27

prosecutor who ended that in

7:29

investigation was Kareem Khan the

7:32

current ICC prosecutor and he was

7:35

appointed in

7:37

2021 and Israel's State media reported

7:40

that the US and Israel behind the scenes

7:43

were lobbying to get Kareem Khan elected

7:47

as the prosecutor of the ICC they

7:50

lobbied for this prosecutor he was their

7:53

man however their war crimes have become

7:56

so blatant that now their appointee in

8:01

the ICC Kareem Khan the new prosecutor

8:03

is being forced to act because if he

8:06

doesn't do anything it will sacrifice

8:08

the reputation of the IC on the world

8:11

stage which as I already mentioned

8:13

earlier has been very hurt by the fact

8:16

that basically only Africans have been

8:19

tried this is the first time in history

8:21

that a western official will finally

8:24

face charges at the ICC now of course

Both sides-ism

8:27

it's not just Israeli officials who are

8:29

being being charged and there are some

8:31

people who are criticizing the IC for

8:34

its both sides approach by accusing both

8:39

Israeli officials and Palestinian

8:41

members of Hamas of war crimes and

8:44

people say you know this is the both

8:46

sides hypocrisy and it's true that under

8:48

international law people under military

8:51

occupation have a legal right to Armed

8:53

resistance the Palestinian people have a

8:56

legal right under international law to

8:58

Armed struggle against the illegal

9:00

Israeli occupation and this has been

9:02

reaffirmed in numerous resolutions

9:05

passed at the UN General Assembly

9:07

however given the fact that until

9:10

recently basically only Africans had

9:12

faced charges at the IC the fact that

9:15

now Israeli officials are facing charges

9:19

is a huge deal so this is by no means to

9:22

say that the I is now suddenly perfect

9:25

and then it's gotten much better but

9:27

it's being forced to show a little

9:29

consistency in order to save face to

9:32

salvage its International reputation and

ICC charges against PM Netanyahu & DM Yoav Gallant

9:35

if you look at the statement by the ICC

9:37

prosecutor it really is remarkable it

9:41

accuses Israel's prime minister Benjamin

9:44

Netanyahu and defense minister yav

9:46

Galant of the following crimes

9:50

starvation of civilians as a method of

9:52

warfare as a war crime willful killing

9:56

intentionally directing attacks against

9:58

a civilian ion population as a war crime

10:02

extermination in the context of deaths

10:05

caused by starvation as a crime against

10:09

humanity persecution as a crime against

10:13

humanity and other inhumane acts as a

10:17

crime against humanity now to be fair

10:20

there are a lot of people who are

10:21

criticizing the IC for waiting so long

10:25

Israel has been brutally bombing Gaza

10:28

and trapping more than 2 million

10:30

Palestinian civilians under a medieval

10:32

siege for 7 months and this is the first

10:35

time the IC has finally said something

ICJ or ICC?

10:38

now a quick note for the people who

10:40

might be confused the international

10:42

criminal court the IC is not the same as

10:45

the international court of justice the

10:48

icj what's confusing is that both of

10:50

them are located at the heg in the

10:52

Netherlands so when people say the heg

10:54

they could be referring to either the

10:56

ICC or the icj the IC J is the top legal

11:01

body of the United Nations and back in

11:04

January the icj ruled that Israel can be

11:08

investigated for the crime of the G

11:12

crime which is the worst possible crime

11:14

I'm not going to say this word because

11:15

then this will be demonetized and pushed

11:17

down on the algorithm but Amnesty

11:20

International Human Rights Watch

11:21

mainstream Western human rights

11:23

organizations have said that Israel has

11:26

for months been violating that rule by

11:30

the

11:30

icj saying that it can be investigated

11:33

for violating the G convention for

11:35

trying to exterminate the Palestinian

11:37

people so that was the previous ruling

11:40

from January and then it took four more

11:43

months for the ICC to finally speak out

11:47

so obviously there are very clear double

11:49

standards when it comes to the IC and

11:52

ironically it was the current prosecutor

11:55

Kareem Khan who admitted to these double

11:58

standards in an interview on CNN the ICC

Western officials says ICC "was built for Africa"

12:02

prosecutor said that Western governments

12:04

were pressuring him not to charge

12:06

Israeli officials and he even said that

12:08

a western leader said that the IC was

12:11

built for Africa and thugs like Putin

12:14

here is this very revealing clip and of

12:18

course I've had some elected leaders

12:20

speak to me and very be you be very

12:22

blunt this court is built for Africa and

12:26

for thugs like Putin was what one senior

12:29

leader uh told me um we don't view it

12:33

like that and uh we're not going to be

12:35

swayed by the different types of threat

12:37

some of which are public and some maybe

Netanyahu responds: "No one will stop us"

12:39

not and while the US government has been

12:41

threatening the IC Israel has been

12:44

openly flaunting its impunity

12:46

immediately after the IC applied for

12:49

these arrest warrants against Israel's

12:51

prime minister Benjamin nahu and defense

12:53

minister Netanyahu published a video on

12:56

Twitter in which he boasted quote

12:59

no one will stop us no one will stop us

13:04

boasting of the fact that he knows that

13:07

the US government will protect him and

13:10

he will be allowed to continue carrying

13:12

out crimes against humanity without any

13:14

legal consequences and by the way it's

20,000 US citizens in IDF

13:17

not just the fact that the US government

13:20

has provided billions of dollars of

13:21

weapons to Israel to help it carry out

13:23

these war crimes there are more than

13:26

20,000 Americans US citizens who are

13:29

serving in Israel's occupation forces

13:33

the Israeli military they are engaged

13:36

directly in these war crimes in Gaza and

13:40

now Republican Congress members have

13:42

introduced legislation in the US

13:45

Congress that will give all US citizens

13:48

who fight in Israel's military benefits

13:51

that are equal to the benefits given to

13:53

members of the US military because what

13:55

they're really showing is that Israel is

13:58

a direct EXT ension of the US Empire

14:01

Israel is an extension of the US war

Israel is an outpost of the US empire

14:04

machine or as some US military officials

14:07

have said Israel is an Unsinkable

14:10

aircraft carrier for the US Empire

14:13

helping the US military tried to

14:15

dominate one of the most geostrategic

14:19

regions on Earth in West Asia connecting

14:22

to the Mediterranean where a huge part

14:25

of the world's natural resources are

14:27

located important GE strategic trade

14:30

routes and choke points Israel is an

14:32

extension of the United States so when

14:35

the US says we cannot allow the IC to

14:39

prosecute Israeli officials because

14:41

where next they're acknowledging that

14:43

Israel is part of the US Empire and

14:46

they're exposing how the so-called

14:49

rules-based International order or the

14:51

liberal International order is simply

14:54

the US Imperial order it is the honic

14:58

order built by the US Empire in which

15:01

the US tried to impose its unipolar

15:04

hegemony on the entire planet and it

15:07

made the rules and ordered everyone

15:09

around and then when it was convenient

15:12

the US and its allies were allowed to

15:14

violate the rules that they created and

15:17

here we see that the US is allowing

15:20

Israel to very clearly violate these

15:23

rules and Washington is directly

15:26

facilitating its crimes against humanity

Biden, Blinken, & Republicans agree

15:29

and the double standards of the US

15:32

government could not be any clearer with

15:35

the comments that Joe Biden Secretary of

15:37

State Anthony blinkin made in a senate

15:40

hearing this may and I'm reading here

15:43

from a report in the financial times

15:46

titled Biden Administration signals it

15:49

will support push to sanction ICC and it

15:53

notes I'm reading from the article the

15:55

Joe Biden Administration will work with

15:57

Congress on possible sanctions against

16:00

the international criminal court after

16:02

its prosecutor announced it was seeking

16:04

arrest warrants for senior Israeli and

16:06

Hamas officials US Secretary of State

16:09

Anthony blinkin said Congressional

16:11

Republicans have signaled they plan to

16:14

introduce legislation that will impose

16:16

costs on the court and in the hearing

16:20

the Secretary of State Anthony blinkin

16:22

was asked by a republican member of the

16:25

Senate committee if the Biden

16:27

Administration would consider Republican

16:29

proposals and take it from there and

16:31

blinkin said quote we want to work with

16:34

you on a bipartisan basis to find an

16:39

appropriate response here once again we

16:41

see the bipartisan barbarism and

16:44

criminality in the US government both

16:47

Republicans and Democrats support these

16:49

war crimes and now are threatening to

16:52

sanction the ICC the financial times

Trump imposed sanctions on ICC

16:55

quoted Anonymous US government officials

16:57

who say that they expect that the

16:58

measures would Target prosecutor Kareem

17:01

Khan and others involved in the

17:03

investigation and the sanctions could be

17:05

similar to those imposed by the Trump

17:07

Administration on the icc's former Chief

17:10

prosecutor Fatu B suda and the Court's

17:14

head of jurisdiction for their

17:16

investigation into alleged us war crimes

17:19

in Afghanistan now I mentioned this

17:21

earlier and it shows another clear

17:23

example of US Government hypocrisy back

17:26

in 2020 the Donald Trump Administration

17:29

imposed sanctions on the IC after it

17:31

started this investigation however when

17:34

Joe Biden came to power in

17:36

2021 almost immediately his

17:39

administration dropped the sanctions on

17:42

the IC and when the state department

17:45

announced this it was Anthony blinkin

17:48

who signed the press release his name is

17:51

on it boasting that the US had ended

17:54

sanctions and visa restrictions against

17:57

Personnel of the international criminal

17:59

court so the Biden Administration is now

18:01

doing exactly what the Trump

18:03

Administration did and when Biden was

18:05

running for president he said we're not

18:07

going to go along with what Trump did

18:09

we're going to reverse his policies well

18:10

here we are a few years later they're

18:12

doing the exact same thing in order to

18:16

protect their impunity in order to

18:18

violate the rules of the Beloved

18:21

rules-based International order that

18:23

they created oh and by the way there's

18:25

another incredible element of hypocrisy

18:27

here which is that the US and is Israel

18:29

are not actually members of the

18:31

international criminal court they have

18:32

refused to sign onto the Rome statute

18:36

which established the IC but you know

18:39

who is Palestine the IC officially

18:42

recognizes Palestine and that's why

18:45

Palestinian Representatives applied for

18:48

the IC to investigate Israel's war

18:52

crimes so the US and Israel once again

US hypocritically backs ICC charges against Putin

18:55

are telling the rest of the world that

18:56

they must abide by the so-call rules of

18:59

the rules-based international order that

19:01

they created when in reality quite

19:04

literally the US and Israel saying well

19:05

they don't apply to us we refuse to join

19:07

the ICC we'll impose sanctions on the

19:09

ICC we will invade the ICC but Vladimir

19:14

Putin anyone else has to listen to the

19:18

ICC I'm not exaggerating this is

19:20

literally what the US government is

19:22

doing it could not be more hypocritical

19:24

I'm reading here the headline of a BBC

19:27

article from March

19:29

2023 one year ago Putin arrest warrant

19:33

Biden welcomes icc's war crimes charges

19:37

here is a Reuters report from March 2023

19:40

title us top Diplomat blinkin urges all

19:44

ICC members to comply with Putin arrest

19:47

warrant so again the rules-based

19:49

international order means the US and

19:51

Israel do whatever they want they can

19:53

commit the worst possible crimes against

19:55

humanity but everyone else must listen

19:58

to the IC and Putin in particular must

20:02

face consequences but not the US

20:04

certainly not George Bush who invaded

20:06

Iraq and more than 1 million Iraqis died

20:09

because of the criminal US invasion of

20:11

Iraq and never faced a single

20:14

consequence so this is why the former

US & Israel: rogue states

20:17

top un official Craig moocher resigned

20:20

in protest during Israel's brutal war on

20:24

Gaza he accused Israel of the G crime

20:27

this is a top legal expert Craig mochar

20:30

former top un official and in response

20:33

to the Biden administration's threat to

20:36

impose sanctions on the IC he wrote on

20:39

Twitter and I think this summarizes it

20:41

very well quote this is a decisive

20:43

moment for the rule of law two Rogue

20:46

nuclear armed States the US and Israel

20:49

are on a global Rampage trampling human

20:53

life and international law underfoot

20:57

will International instit tions stand up

21:00

or bow to Lawless bullying that's the

21:03

question I'm going to leave you with

21:05

today because it's not just Justice for

21:08

the Palestinian people that is at stake

21:10

here and the end to these crimes against

21:13

humanity sponsored by the us being

21:15

carried out by Israel of course the most

21:17

important thing is that those end that

21:20

the Palestinian people are allowed to

21:22

live that Israel's illegal occupation

21:25

ends that its apartheid policies end

21:28

that it colonialism ends those are of

21:31

course the most important things but

21:33

it's not just that it's also The

21:35

credibility of international legal

21:38

institutions for the first time ever a

21:41

western government official a close us

21:44

Ally is finally facing consequences and

21:48

charges at the international criminal

21:51

court at the he over the war crimes that

21:54

he has committed the global South has

21:56

already said for decades that the ICC is

21:59

a biased institution even sometimes

22:01

calling it The International Colonial

22:03

Court but if finally there may be some

22:08

justice of course it doesn't mean that

22:10

the IC is now a great perfect

22:12

institution far from it but it does show

22:15

that there might finally be some changes

22:18

in the world politically unfortunately

22:21

I'm quite pessimistic the fact that the

22:23

US government is threatening the ICC so

22:25

blatantly the fact that the US

22:27

government has never faced any

22:29

consequences for its constant Wars of

22:32

aggression against Vietnam Iraq Syria

22:36

Libya the list goes on the fact that the

22:39

US has never faced consequences shows

22:41

that these legal institutions are deeply

22:44

biased and Colonial but this is a

22:47

historic moment it's a very rare breath

22:50

of fresh air we should be realistic

22:53

about it that's what I'm trying to be

22:55

people say I'm being pessimistic well

22:56

I'm being realistic but here at

Outro

22:58

geopolitical economy report we will of

23:00

course be following this issue very

23:02

closely reporting on it analyzing it

23:05

providing context that is often left out

23:08

of mainstream Western corporate media

23:10

and on that note I'm going to conclude

23:12

I'm Ben Norton the editor-in chief of

23:14

geopolitical economy report please like

23:17

And subscribe please share to help to

23:19

promote our material and I will be back

23:21

very soon thanks a lot for joining me

23:23

today I will see you all next time