US says it will “dismantle” ICC to prevent ‘threat’ to Israel

The US, through its ambassador to the UN, has said it will “dismantle” the International Criminal Court (ICC) to protect Israel. It didn’t name Israel, but Israel was clearly the point — and, of course, protecting the US’s own mountain of war criminals. The attack came a day after warmongering US secretary of state Marco Rubio also threatened the court.

Orwellian claims

And Jeff Bartos was in full Orwellian mood, claiming the ICC is engaged in some kind of international takeover. The US has enabled Israel’s Gaza genocide and murder of Lebanese civilians as well as knowingly slaughtering over 160 schoolgirls in Iran. Laughably, Bartos claimed the US ‘condemns’ violence against civilians and that the US is “working tirelessly” to prevent it:

ICC under attack

Below is the full relevant section of his speech:

First and foremost, I must address the ICC itself, which continues to pose an intolerable threat in its attempts to assert jurisdiction over the United States or over any U.S. ally that has not consented to ICC jurisdiction.

The ICC was supposed to be a court of last resort, a narrow backstop to prosecute the gravest crimes.

The ICC and its proponents seek a standing world tribunal with near-unlimited reach.  The ICC is constantly seeking to aggrandize its own power, falsely asserting so-called jurisdiction beyond its mandate, including over nations who never consented to its authority.  The ICC’s perverse attempts to encroach on the sovereignty of states, including some on this Council, must be defeated.

So long as this decades-old concern remains unaddressed, we will continue to take steps as needed to protect U.S. interests.

To this end, the United States has launched a full-on diplomatic campaign, working beside every ally with whom we can make common cause, to dismantle the capabilities of the ICC until it is completely incapable of threatening the United States, our people, and our interests.

We encourage all current states parties to the Rome Statute to withdraw from this power-hungry institution which has grossly exceeded its legal authority.

To those who suggest that the disgraced ICC is the only venue to address humanitarian tragedies, they are ignoring both precedent and more reasonable options.  Nations as well as this Council established time-limited tribunals for war crimes before the ICC existed, and that option remains viable and preferable to this unaccountable and corrupt institution.

Separate from the ICC and its work on Darfur, and as Senior Advisor Boulos stated last month in the meeting of this Council, the situation in Sudan is dire.

We are witnessing some of the worst types of violence, harm to civilians, and the continued escalation of drone warfare and airstrikes that are causing significant damage to humanitarian and civilian infrastructure and hindering humanitarian assistance.

The conflict in Sudan has also seen some of the worst types of fighting and violence that humanity has experienced, with the commission of atrocities, including genocide by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and the use of chemical weapons by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

The United States is deeply concerned by ongoing mass atrocity risks, including in and around El Obeid across the Kordofan region and elsewhere in Sudan.

We are seeing both the SAF and RSF turn to their drones supplied by external actors to perpetrate remote warfare, which does not translate to any battlefield successes, but instead just exacerbates the suffering and harm to civilians.

The United States reiterates its deep concern about external support to the parties, which only serves to prolong the conflict and therefore must cease.

As Secretary Rubio has noted, at the highest levels of our government the case is being made and pressure is being applied to relevant parties to stop the outside assistance that is facilitating the violence.

President Trump is committed to achieving peace in Sudan.

The United States condemns the violence and killing of civilians in the strongest terms, and we call on all parties to the conflict to halt the violence and embark on a path to peace.

And the United States, alongside our allies, and importantly, exclusive of the ICC, is working tirelessly to help achieve this.

Those who do not do so must be held accountable.

I thank you.

Like its protege Israel, the US is a rogue and terror state. 1984 was meant to be a warning, not a handbook.