Amal Clooney, wife of George Clooney, was one of the lawyers who advised the ICC on issuing an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Sinwar

By Kamran Hussain
Kamran28Hussain
May 20, 2024
7:56 PM

Amal with George. (Phot credit: BBC)

Amal Clooney Published an expert report supporting the ICC arrest warrant applications for war crimes in Israel and Palestine.

Amal Clooney, international law and human rights barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, today announced the conclusions of the Panel of Experts in International Law, convened by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan KC, in support of his investigation into the ‘Situation in the State of Palestine’, which covers international crimes committed either on the territory of Palestine or by a Palestinian national.

The Panel’s mandate was to advise the Prosecutor on whether his applications for arrest warrants met the standard provided in Article 58 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The Panel unanimously endorsed the Prosecutor’s assessment that the Court had jurisdiction over the case and that there were ‘reasonable grounds to believe’ that individuals named in the arrest warrants – including senior leaders of Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity within the jurisdiction of the Court.

Ms Clooney served on the Panel alongside her esteemed colleagues: Lord Justice Fulford, former Vice-President of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and former Judge at the International Criminal Court; Judge Theodor Meron CMG, Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford, Honorary Fellow, Trinity College, and former Judge and former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia; Danny Friedman KC, Barrister, expert in criminal law, international law and human rights; Baroness Helena Kennedy LT KC, Barrister, Member of the House of Lords and Director of the International Bar Association Human Rights Institute; and Elizabeth Wilmshurst CMG KC, former Deputy Legal Adviser at the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Distinguished Fellow of International Law at Chatham House.

Mrs Clooney released a statement on her Clooney Foundation For Justice website:

“More than four months ago, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asked me to assist him with evaluating evidence of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and Gaza. I agreed and joined a panel of international legal experts to undertake this task. Together we have engaged in an extensive process of evidence review and legal analysis including at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The Panel and its academic advisers are experts in international law, including international humanitarian law and international criminal law. Two Panel members are appointed as expert ‘Special Advisers’ by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Two Panel members are former judges at criminal tribunals in The Hague.Despite our diverse personal backgrounds, our legal findings are unanimous. We have unanimously determined that the Court has jurisdiction over crimes committed in Palestine and by Palestinian nationals. We unanimously conclude that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including hostage-taking, murder and crimes of sexual violence. We unanimously conclude that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity including starvation as a method of warfare, murder, persecution and extermination.I served on this Panel because I believe in the rule of law and the need to protect civilian lives. The law that protects civilians in war was developed more than 100 years ago and it applies in every country in the world regardless of the reasons for a conflict. As a human rights lawyer, I will never accept that one child’s life has less value than another’s. I do not accept that any conflict should be beyond the reach of the law, nor that any perpetrator should be above the law. So I support the historic step that the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has taken to bring justice to victims of atrocities in Israel and Palestine.Today, my colleagues and I have published an oped and a detailed legal report of the Panel’s findings. My approach is not to provide a running commentary of my work but to let the work speak for itself. I hope that witnesses will cooperate with the ongoing investigation. And I hope that justice will prevail in a region that has already suffered too much.”