Tlaib Says Biden Admin 'At Serious Risk' of ICC Prosecution

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib said Monday that the Biden administration has put itself "at serious risk of prosecution by the International Criminal Court" by continuing to provide the Israeli military with weapons as it carries out grave war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, Tlaib (D-Mich.) slammed the administration's decision late last week to bypass Congress and approve the sale of $100 million of tank ammunition to the Israeli military. The U.S. State Department notified lawmakers of its decision an hour before midnight on Friday, circumventing congressional review of the deal.

"Just hours after the U.S. vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire and the release of hostages, the Biden administration notified us that they bypassed Congress to send [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu $100 million of tank ammunition to continue to carry out war crimes and massacre innocent Palestinians," said Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman ever elected to Congress.

"Our district didn't send President [Joe] Biden to the White House to have him facilitate the killing of innocent civilians," she added. "We didn't turn out in huge numbers to elect President Biden to have him supply the bombs for a genocide. This administration's refusal to acknowledge the human dignity of Palestinians is disturbing, and actions like this speak loud and clear."

"President Biden has seen refugee camps, hospitals, schools, and entire neighborhoods bombed."

The New York Timesreported Saturday that the State Department "invoked an emergency provision in the Arms Export Control Act" to justify the move. Since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, the Biden administration has kept its arms transfers to Israel shrouded in secrecy and has tried to accelerate the flow of weapons by working around Congress.

Over the past two months, the U.S. has provided Israel with roughly 15,000 bombs—including 2,000-pound bunker busters—and nearly 60,000 artillery shells, without attaching any conditions.

An Amnesty International investigation published last week found that Israel used U.S.-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions to carry out airstrikes that killed more than 40 people from two families. Amnesty said the attacks "must be investigated as war crimes."

Legal experts and scholars have been warning since October that U.S. officials could be rendering themselves complicit in war crimes—and genocide—by continuing to arm the Israeli military as it wages indiscriminate war on the Gaza Strip.

Tlaib echoed that warning Monday, noting that the Biden administration has opted to "give weapons to a military that is very publicly and actively committing serious war crimes and crimes against humanity."

"President Biden has seen refugee camps, hospitals, schools, and entire neighborhoods bombed," said Tlaib. "He's seen dead children pulled from the rubble in their pajamas, and rather than work for a cease-fire he's sending more weapons to keep the massacres going."

The International Criminal Court is currently conducting a war crimes investigation in the occupied Palestinian territories.