Friday, June 7, 2024, 1:57 p.m.
US President Joe Biden has had a new critic for his policy of supporting Israel in the Gaza war. None other than George Clooney.
The famous Oscar-winning actor has called one of the White House’s top advisors to convey his displeasure over the president’s harsh criticism of the request by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to order the arrests of Benjamin Netanyahu, his minister. of Defense, Yoav Gallant, and the three big leaders of Hamas. Amal Clooney, the actor’s wife and international lawyer on human rights issues, actively worked on this request as a researcher.
Although Biden recognized the appropriateness of arresting the militia leaders, he considered that doing the same with Netanyahu and Gallant is “scandalous.” “Regardless of what this prosecutor may say, there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas, the president added. . It so happens that the House of Representatives recently approved legislation that opens the door to applying sanctions to the Hague Court, whose authority the United States does not recognize. In fact, this country, like Russia, Israel or China, is not among the 123 that ratified the Rome Statute and has always been reluctant to sign its name to prevent possible war crimes of its troops in Iraq from being investigated. or Afghanistan.
However, the House resolution does not satisfy the White House either. Applying it could lead to serious domestic problems in that sanctioning the International Court could affect US judges, prosecutors, lawyers, coroners or investigators who collaborate with this institution to condemn crimes against humanity. Without going any further, dozens of professionals from these sectors, along with FBI agents, are currently collaborating with the Police in Ukraine to build cases against Russia in The Hague.
A few days ago, Clooney called Steve Richetti, a current presidential advisor who was also Biden’s chief of staff when he served as Barack Obama’s vice president. The actor, who in September releases his new film, ‘Wolfs’, conveyed his anger and concern over the fact that the president called the request from the International Prosecutor’s Office “scandalous.” He also expressed his discomfort with the processing in the House of the law on the International Court, since any sanction emanating from this norm could affect his wife.
The couple chairs the Clooney Foundation for Justice. It is established in 40 countries. Its purpose is to provide free assistance to victims of human rights abuses. For two years she has been working to collect evidence of war crimes in Ukraine. She is also on the ground in Congo and Sudan. And she has a legal department dedicated to presenting “strategic litigation” that achieves equal laws or increases sentences for gender violence in countries with regulatory gaps. As soon as the Hague prosecutor’s resolution was known, Amal Clooney justified the request to arrest both Netanyahu and his Defense Minister as well as the Hamas leaders because “I do not accept that any conflict should be beyond the reach of the law, nor “that no perpetrator should be above the law.”
The fact is that George Clooney’s anger has shaken the foundations of the Democratic Party. The relationship between the filmmaker and the Democrats is longstanding. Clooney and former President Obama became friends in 2006 when the former represented Darfur refugees on behalf of the United Nations. Their relationship was close. When he premiered ‘The Monument’s Men,’ Clooney and Amal, his then-girlfriend, saw the premiere at a private screening with Obama at the White House.
In December 2022 he was received with honors at the Kennedy Center and last year Biden appointed the actor as his advisor on cultural policy. The ‘Daily Mirror’ claimed in the past that Clonney was considering making the leap into politics in the Democratic ranks. This is a rumor that arises periodically, in parallel with his growing involvement in humanitarian activities or his appearance at party events. During the 2020 campaign, the protagonist of ‘The Ides of March’, where he paradoxically plays a Democratic politician, donated half a million dollars to Biden’s campaign.
The president’s advisors, and candidate for re-election, are worried these days about the possibility that anger over the Israel issue will lead Clooney to suspend his participation on June 15 in a major electoral fundraising event. in which he is scheduled to share space with Obama, actress Julia Roberts and television host Jimmy Kimmel. It should be remembered that during the electoral race of the first black president in the history of the United States, the filmmaker took part in another similar event. Obama got $15 million that night for his rallies.
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