One of eight members of a panel appointed by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) who will assess arrest warrants for Hamas and key Israeli leaders was Amal Clooney.
Senior British attorneys who rented themselves out as consultants to the ICC’s case against Israel on the Gaza offensive have been told by the British Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office to watch out for sanctions by the Trump administration.
In January 2024, ICC prosecutor Kharim Khan gathered a group of legal and academic specialists to probe his inquiry of suspected crimes in the Israel-Hamas conflict, which is ongoing.
The purpose of the panel was to find out if the people included in the petitions of arrest warrants had perpetrated crimes, which fell under the purview of the ICC, such as crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.
Clooney is a renowned British barrister — an expert in international law and human rights matters — who, among other professionals who counseled Khan, included lawyers face to face with Guantanamo Bay inmates. She also works as an adjunct professor at New York City’s Columbia Law School.
The nonprofit Clooney Foundation for Justice uses the actor as keynote speaker for awards, but Clooney co-founded the foundation and gives victims of human rights violations free legal assistance. Prior to the ICC and the International Court of Justice, she has defended victims of abuse on a broad scale.
Fight for Peace director Danny Friedman, Labor peer Baroness Helena Kennedy of the Shaws, former British judge Lord Justice Adrian Fulford, Judge Theodor Meron CMG and Elizabeth Wilmshurst CMG KC were among the panel.
Israeli and Hamas figures named by Khan in his inquiry included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh.
It came after months of what Clooney and the other panel members called “an extensive process of review and analysis,” before arriving at the publication, jointly with a legal report and a statement, via the Financial Times on May 20, 2024, that they ‘support the ICC’s prosecution of crimes in Israel and Gaza.’
In this statement, they said that the panel unanimously agreed Khan’s evidence to charge the leaders of the conflict.
‘The ICC will ultimately decide which warrants, if any, are to be issued against the two men’. We believe that state authorities, witnesses and survivors will engage in the judicial process, and as investigations progress, we encourage and we hope that they will do so,” they said.
In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant on crimes against humanity and war crimes charges. The third Hamas commanders were also charged, but they have, already, passed away.
It was the involvement of Khan in the ICC’s investigation against Israel that led President Donald Trump sign an executive order in February of this year, putting it in sanctions against him: suspending his entry into the United States, banning the assets and property.
The president also gave those who participated in the case 60 days to come up with internal recommendations that he would not forget about them if he decided to do additional things. The due date was April 7.
On social media, many people became annoyed after learning that Trump would prevent Clooney from entering the United States as impending sanctions from the Trump administration prohibited him from entering.
“I think one person wrote: ‘Even Disgraceful Says It’s Disgraceful!’ ” “This is infuriating!!” another exclaimed. “He would be absolutely heartbroken,” a fan sympathized. “Isn’t she married to an American citizen?” another person asked.
The lawyer’s spouse is actor George Clooney. Following, social media users had bitched her up for not speaking on the incident and joining in campaigning for the victims of it.
Then, she released a personal address after her joint statement with her panel. She wrote on the Clooney Foundation website that she ‘served on this Panel because I believe in the rule of law and protecting civilian lives.’
However, Clooney underscored whatever provoked the fight, all nations are ‘subject to the laws of civilians in war, laws in existence over centuries’. As a human rights attorney, she does not believe that the life of one kid is more or less valuable than the life of another.
The mother of two said she doesn’t accept that there should be any conflict that is ‘beyond the reach of the law’, and should have no perpetrator above the law.
But since the arrest warrants were issued, Netanyahu’s office dismissed the charges as mere ‘false and absurd.’ Also, Israel, along with the US, is not one of the countries that signed the international treaty that set up the ICC, and therefore does not view the court as having jurisdiction over it.
