The J Street organization published a statement defending the International Criminal Court's decision to issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and claiming that accusations of antisemitism against the ICC are mistaken.
"J Street – the pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy movement – expressed deep sadness that we have now come to a point whereby the International Criminal Court feels it justified to issue arrest warrants for two top government officials, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and recently fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant," the organization stated.
"There will be many in Israel and in the American Jewish community who will look at all these actions within one 24-hour period and blame them on antisemitism or inherent enmity for Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people. This is the wrong response," it claimed.
"Israelis, instead, need to consider that many of its friends around the world are looking at the government of Israel’s actions in the wake of the barbaric terrorist attack of October 7, 2023, and are sending an unmistakable signal: You have gone too far. Change course. It is time for this war to end and to start creating a pathway out of this nightmare with the support of neighbors and partners all over the world," J Street stated.
J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami said, “It is unbearably painful for friends of Israel – particularly those who have lived there, have family and friends there and have been partners over decades in building the country – to read international justices hold that there are reasonable grounds to believe that leading Israeli officials have knowingly and intentionally violated international laws, including the use of starvation as a method of warfare and other horrific crimes against humanity."
“This deeply distressing ruling is one more clear sign of the lasting damage this extreme right-wing government is doing to the State of Israel, its place in the world and its long-term security," Ben-Ami added.
In Israel, the leftist opposition parties, President Herzog and the Attorney General joined in condemning the ICC decision to issue warrants, as opposed to J Street