Biden at odds with allies as U.S. and Israel attack ICC over arrest warrants

The United States found itself at odds with some key allies Tuesday after President Joe Biden denounced the chief prosecutor of the world’s top war crimes court for seeking arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders.

Breaking with Biden, France and Belgium were among a number of countries to defend the “independence” of the International Criminal Court after prosecutor Karim Khan accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, as well as others, of alleged war crimes.

Israel sought to contain the fallout from the news, which delivered a new reputational blow even though no arrests were imminent. The country called on its allies to vow not to enforce any warrants, and dispatched its top diplomat, foreign minister Israel Katz, to Paris, according to The Associated Press.

In an interview with MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle on Tuesday, Netanyahu said Israel was getting a "bum rap in the international scene" as he branded Khan a "rogue prosecutor who's out to demonize the one and only Jewish state."

Echoing Biden's comments, Netanyahu said the prosecutor's decision to seek arrest warrants for both Israeli and Hamas leaders reflected a "false symmetry" that he said was comparable to issuing arrest warrants for both former President George W. Bush and Osama Bin Laden following the 9/11 terror attacks.

He further accused Khan of stoking "antisemitic fires" that he said were already burning across campuses in the U.S. and Europe — an apparent reference to widespread protests led by university students around the world in opposition to Israel's offensive in Gaza.