(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Amal Clooney, the wife of actor George Clooney, has come under scrutiny for her role on the expert panel at the International Criminal Court (ICC), which endorsed the issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.
At the center of the arrest warrants is Netanyahu’s alleged role in what the left has described as war crimes against Palestinians following the Hamas invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7.
The revelation of Amal Clooney’s connection to the contentious arrest warrants was first reported by Mediate. Her name appeared in a 13-page report that unanimously supported the prosecutor’s decision to proceed with the warrants.
As detailed in the report, Amal Clooney is a professor at Columbia Law School and co-founder of the Clooney Foundation for Justice.
However, critics argue that the arrest warrants overlook the context of Israel’s actions, particularly in response to the Oct. 7 invasion by Hamas against Israel.
Israel’s defense against Hamas aggression has raised questions about the so-called fairness and impartiality of the ICC’s decision.
While the warrants await approval from an ICC judge, concerns persist about the perceived bias in the panel’s deliberations.
The panel convened in January 2024, asserting its pro bono and independent operation in the report.
“It has unanimously reached all of the views contained in this Report,” the panel stated. “It will set out its key reasoning below, but notes that it cannot disclose any material that is currently confidential.”
In an editorial for the Financial Times, the panel defended the arrest warrants, claiming, “There is no doubt that the step taken today by the prosecutor is a milestone in the history of international criminal law.”
Critics argue that the arrest warrants conflate Israeli self-defense acts to those of Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7.
Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh, also faced arrest warrants approved by the panel.
