US senator threatens to sanction allies enforcing ICC arrest warrants for Israel's Netanyahu, Gallant

By Muhammed Enes Calli

ISTANBUL (AA) - Republican US Sen. Lindsey Graham threatened to sanction US allies if they enforce International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

"To any ally, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, if you try to help the ICC, we’re going to sanction you," Graham told Fox News in an interview late Friday.

"If you are going to help the ICC as a nation and force the arrest warrant against Bibi and Gallant, the former defense minister, I will put sanctions on you as a nation," he said.

"You’re gonna have to pick the rogue ICC versus America," Graham added.

The ICC announced in a landmark move on Thursday that it issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel has launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in October last year, killing more than 44,000 people, most of them women and children, and injuring over 104,000.

It has also engaged in cross-border warfare with Lebanon, launching an air campaign in late September against what it claims are Hezbollah targets. Over 3,600 people have been killed, with more than 15,300 injured and over a million displaced since last October, according to Lebanese health authorities.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on Gaza.