"My Wife Also Sanctioned?"... George Clooney Protests White House Criticism of ICC Warrant

Biden Condemns Arrest Warrant Request for Israeli Leaders
'Lawyer' Clooney's Wife Joins ICC Panel

Actor George Clooney protested to the White House after U.S. President Joe Biden criticized the International Criminal Court's (ICC) request for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders. Clooney's wife, a lawyer, is a member of the ICC expert panel.

On the 6th (local time), The Washington Post (WP) reported that last month Clooney called presidential advisor Stephen Ricchetti to express concern over President Biden's criticism of the ICC's request for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Clooney reportedly expressed dissatisfaction with Biden calling the arrest warrants "absurd."

Actor George Clooney (left) and his lawyer wife Amal Clooney [Photo by AP Yonhap News]

Clooney is a longtime enthusiastic supporter of the Democratic Party, having donated more than $500,000 (about 680 million KRW) to Biden during the 2020 presidential election and hosting virtual fundraisers that raised $7 million (about 9.5 billion KRW). WP analyzed that Clooney's protest to the White House was likely because his wife could be targeted due to her involvement in the arrest warrant process against Israeli leaders.

Clooney's wife, Amal Clooney, is a human rights activist and international human rights law specialist lawyer working at the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which she co-founded with her husband. Born in Lebanon, she was raised in London, UK. She married George Clooney in 2014 and they have fraternal twins. Amal Clooney is one of the ICC expert panel members who reviewed evidence and conducted legal analysis related to war crimes allegations against Israeli and Hamas leaders.

In a statement issued after the arrest warrant request, Amal said, "The ICC panel unanimously concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli and Hamas leaders committed war crimes and crimes against humanity," expressing support for the arrest warrants. In response, President Biden strongly criticized the warrants, saying, "There is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas."

Following this, the Biden administration also expressed intentions to sanction the ICC immediately after the arrest warrant request against Israeli leaders. The administration indicated willingness to cooperate with the U.S. Congress to punish the ICC through sanctions, but after the House passed a bill sanctioning the ICC on the 4th, it stated a "strong opposition" to the bill, citing concerns that it could sanction court staff, judges, witnesses, and U.S. allies supporting the ICC.

Clooney is scheduled to attend a fundraising event in Los Angeles on the 15th alongside former President Barack Obama and actress Julia Roberts. Due to recent developments, Biden's aides were concerned that Clooney might skip the event, but WP, citing sources, reported that Clooney will attend the event despite the ICC controversy.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.