Amal Clooney among legal experts who recommended arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu
Amal Clooney has revealed she was on the panel of international legal experts who recommended seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli and Hamas leaders.
The human rights lawyer, whose husband is actor George Clooney, wrote about assisting with evaluating evidence of suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and Gaza, in a post on the couple’s Clooney Foundation for Justice website.
She and other international law experts unanimously agreed to recommend that International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan seek the arrest warrants.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he rejects the application ‘with disgust’. Pic: Gil Cohen-Magen/via Reuters
Mr Khan has alleged Mr Netanyahu, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh were responsible for war crimes in both Gaza and Israel.
Mr Netanyahu has said he rejects “with disgust” the prosecutor’s “comparison between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas”.
Mrs Clooney, who had previously faced criticism online for not speaking out publicly on the war, has now said she joined the panel more than four months ago and supports the “historic step” in seeking the warrants.
“I served on this panel because I believe in the rule of law and the need to protect civilian lives,” she wrote.
“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.”
Amal and George Clooney. Pic: Reuters
In a statement on the warrants, Mr Khan said he has reasonable grounds to believe the Hamas leaders “bear criminal responsibility” for “war crimes and crimes against humanity”.
He outlined a list of alleged crimes, including murder, taking hostages and rape and other acts of sexual violence.
On Mr Netanyahu and his defence minister Mr Gallant, Mr Khan said he has reasonable grounds to believe they too “bear criminal responsibility” for “war crimes and crimes against humanity”.
He outlined a list of alleged crimes, including “starvation of civilians” and “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population”.
In her statement on the panel’s recommendations, Mrs Clooney added that she hoped “witnesses will co-operate with the ongoing investigation” and that “justice will prevail in a region that has already suffered too much”.
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Reacting to the ICC’s decision, Mr Netanyahu said: “With what audacity do you compare Hamas that murdered, burned, butchered, decapitated, raped and kidnapped our brothers and sisters and the IDF soldiers fighting a just war.
“No pressure and no decision in any international forum will prevent us from striking those who seek to destroy us.”
US President Joe Biden said the move by the ICC prosecutor was “outrageous”, adding: “Let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas.”
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Biden slams ICC’s arrest warrant call
A spokesman for UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the ICC’s action was “not helpful in relation to reaching a pause in the fighting, getting hostages out or getting humanitarian aid in”.
A panel of three ICC judges must consider Mr Khan’s application, in a process that takes an average of two months.
The court has no means to enforce arrest warrants and its investigation into the Gaza war has long been opposed by the US and Israel.
As Israel is not a member of the ICC, neither Mr Netanyahu nor Mr Gallant would be at immediate risk of arrest should the judges agree to issue warrants, although it could make it difficult for the Israeli leaders to travel abroad.
Disgraced US film producer Harvey Weinstein is to be tried for a third time in a sexual assault case.
A jury in New York could not reach a verdict in June against the 73-year-old who was accused of raping actress Jessica Mann, and a mistrial was declared.
Judge Curtis Farber has said he wants the new trial to happen before the end of this year.
The same jury found Weinstein guilty in June of sexually assaulting former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and not guilty of assaulting Polish former runway model Kaja Sokola the same year.
Weinstein will be sentenced for the guilty verdict in Ms Haley’s case on 30 September.
He denied all of the charges. Throughout the retrial, his lawyers insisted the sexual encounters with his three accusers were “transactional” and “consensual,” and labelled the women as opportunists.
Weinstein was originally convicted of rape and criminal sexual act by the same court in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison for the crimes.
Last year, however, New York’s highest court overturned the conviction, prompting Weinstein’s retrial this summer.
Weinstein was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood – the co-founder of film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company, who produced films such as the Oscar-winning Shakespeare In Love, Pulp Fiction, and The Crying Game.
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In 2017, a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him propelled the #MeToo movement.
Some of those accusations later led to criminal charges and his convictions in New York and California.
Before the retrial, Weinstein was also serving a 16-year prison sentence after being found guilty of rape in California in December 2022. He has also denied this charge.
Entertainment
Yungblud pays tribute to his hero Ozzy Osbourne as he opens up about ‘raw’ documentary Are You Ready, Boy?
Yungblud has told Sky News he hopes he can keep Ozzy Osbourne’s “spirit and energy” alive after performing at the metal legend’s final gig.
The singer-songwriter paid tribute to his hero at the premiere of his upcoming documentary, Are You Ready, Boy?, which he admitted had been an “uncomfortable” watch as it shows him at his most vulnerable.
It gives fans a glimpse behind the curtain during the process of recording live tracks from his fourth studio album, Idols, which topped the charts in June.
On stage at Back To The Beginning. Pic: Kazuyo Horie
Just a few weeks later, he was on stage at Back To The Beginning – Ozzy Osbourne‘s “final bow” reunion gig with Black Sabbath, held at Villa Park in Birmingham. The metal pioneer died less than three weeks later.
Yungblud, whose real name is Dom Harrison, performed a cover of Osbourne’s song Changes, and went on to release his version as a single, raising funds for the same charities as the concert.
Afterwards, Ozzy gifted him a cross which he keeps around his neck.
Ozzy on stage during his final performance. Pic: Ross Halfin
“Ozzy is everything to me, always has been,” he says. “And to be able to go on stage and honour my hero and sing that song to him, without knowing that they were his final days, was everything to me.
“I will try my best to keep that spirit and keep that energy alive. I love that guy. I got to know him personally at the end and I love that family. I’ve got nothing but love, always.”
Now, Harrison is getting ready for the release of Are You Ready, Boy?, which was filmed at the famous Hansa Studios in Berlin, the birthplace of albums including David Bowie’s Heroes and U2’s Achtung Baby!.
Are You Ready, Boy? is released later in August
Making music and all of his creative output he sees as “life or death”, he says in the film. “I mean, 100%,” he adds while on the red carpet. “I think that’s how I like to play, you know? I mean, red or black, every time.
“I love taking risks and this film is the most vulnerable I think I’ve ever been. It’s pretty uncomfortable for me to watch. I’ve seen it once, I’ll watch it tonight and probably never watch it again…
“I think in this day and age, it’s very easy for us to cut around things and make them palatable and digestible. I wanted to do something that would be raw and uncomfortable, and this is what came out.”
The film comes during an intense period for the star, who has just opened his own music venue and shop in London, and is also planning a world tour and the return of his own festival, Bludfest, in 2026.
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“I think it’s important for [fans] to know who I really am,” he says, of why he wanted to make the film. “I think 30 seconds on an Instagram video doesn’t quite cut it. It’s a fly-on-the-wall documentary… we didn’t have an overarching narrative at the start of it.
“I said, come with me for two weeks, roll the cameras and see what happens.”
The star also spoke about Bludfest, which he launched in 2024. The third event next year will be “bigger and better,” he says.
The festival was set up as he felt prices had become too expensive and he wanted to show it could be done differently.
“I had something to prove,” he says. “I think this festival was important… It made me sick, the price of tickets. And a lot of promoters, I don’t think, took me seriously.
“We made a massive statement and I will continue to do that. I love my community, I love my fanbase. They’re all I care about.”
Are You Ready, Boy? is out in cinemas on August 20 and 24
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