Ocasio-Cortez: ‘Hypocrisy’ to Attack International Criminal Court for Netanyahu Warrant

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “All In” that it was “hypocrisy” to attack the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor requesting arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes.

Host Chris Hayes said, “There was bipartisan calls in the Senate to work on legislation to essentially sanction the International Criminal Court for that arrest warrant towards Netanyahu. Antony Blinken said that he would be amenable to working with a bipartisan group of senators. Would you be interested in bipartisan legislation to sanction the International Criminal Court for it’s arrest warrant of Benjamin Netanyahu?”

Ocasio-Cortez said, “Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I will associate myself with some of our strongest allies as well as other members within the United States Congress that assert and respect the independence of the courts and the independence of the ICC. What I find particularly disturbing about this attack on the ICC is that there is no particular set of evidence that has been presented by any member of any party as to any sort of reason why the ICC’s conclusions are wrong or corrupted or why the process may or may not have legitimacy.”

She added, “The fact that we are simply attacking a court because we do not like it’s conclusion, without any evidence to support that case, creates, I think, and opening of hypocrisy. It could potentially be a gift to adversaries of the United States. Because what prevents Putin, what prevents individuals and other authoritarians around the world from also disregarding an international body from trying to create accountability for war crimes.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN