WASHINGTON (AP) — In extensive testimony before the Senate Tuesday, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken denounced the chief prosecutor of the world’s highest court for war crimes for demanding the arrest of Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said that despite expressing condolences for the death of the Iranian president, this did not change that leader’s history of repression.
Blinken, who spoke to senators about the Biden administration’s foreign affairs budget proposal, was repeatedly interrupted by protesters condemning US policies toward ally Israel and the war against Hamas in Gaza.
The chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations and Senate Appropriations Committees halted the hearings at least six times as Blinken made his opening statements, while protesters stood to voice their opposition to the administration’s position and accused him of being a “war criminal” and responsible are. for a “genocide” against the Palestinian people.
Several silent protesters held up their hands, smeared with red paint or food coloring, behind Blinken during his appearances.
In his remarks and his answers to questions from senators, Blinken followed suit President Joe Biden and other government officials in condemning the International Criminal Court prosecutor for seeking arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for actions taken during their seven-month war in Gaza.
Blinken reiterated the position that the tribunal, which Israel and the US do not recognize, has no jurisdiction and that it was “extremely nonsensical” for the prosecutor to equate Israeli officials with the Hamas leaders he is also trying to indict. .
Senate Republicans have threatened sanctions against ICC personnel over this decision, but the government has not yet taken a position. However, Blinken said the administration would work with lawmakers to come up with an appropriate response if necessary.
Blinken lamented that some administration critics appeared to overlook Hamas’s role in starting the war in Gaza, with the deadly attacks on Israel on October 7.
A day after the State Department issued a statement offering condolences for the deaths of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others in a recent helicopter crash, Blinken told senators it was a typical gesture when “countries – adversaries, enemies or not – have lost leaders.”
“It does not change the fact that Mr. Raisi engaged in reprehensible conduct, including oppressing his own people for years as a judge and then as president,” Blinken said. “It doesn’t change our policy.”
His comments come even as Brett McGurk, a top Biden Middle East adviser, held indirect talks in Oman last week with Ali Bagheri Kani, who now serves as Iran’s acting foreign minister, according to a US official familiar with the sensitive conversations, but he was not authorized to comment publicly.
Kani, who became acting foreign minister after the crash, and McGurk were not in the same room as Omani officials passed messages back and forth between McGurk and Kani.
The official said such indirect talks are a channel the US has used with the Iranians in the past to convey concerns and signal consequences for destabilizing actions.
Weeks ago, Iran launched hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles at Israel following a suspected Israeli attack in Syria that killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular building. US troops helped put down the barrage from Iran.
The official added that the indirect talks were aimed at managing risks amid growing concerns that the Israeli-Hamas conflict could develop into a broader regional conflict.
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AP writer Aamer Madhani contributed from Washington.
