Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar praised U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, (R-S.C.) on Tuesday for his “moral clarity” after the senator criticized the United Nations Human Rights Council.
In a tweet earlier on Tuesday, Graham warned the HRC that if it attempted to create a mechanism to bring action against Israeli citizens, the U.S. Congress would respond with “fire and fury.”
He also said the “corrupt” International Criminal Court, which agreed to hear a case accusing Israel of genocide and issued arrest warrants for Israel’s leaders, had been marginalized and that any attempt to substitute another U.N. organization would risk that organization’s funding.
“Any nation that aids and abets in the endeavor will face sanctions,” Graham said, repeating a similar threat he made in November, warning “any U.S. ally—Canada, Britain, Germany, France—if you try to help the ICC, we’re going to sanction you.”
On Tuesday, the U.N. Human Rights Council accused Israel of “mass ethnic cleansing.”
U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese said Israel would use the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas invasion to “acquire Palestinian land and further displace Palestinians,” according to a statement on the organization’s website.
U.N. Watch, a group that monitors anti-Israel actions in the United Nations, has organized a petition calling for Albanese’s ouster, noting that after she denied the Oct. 7 massacre was the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, she became the first special rapporteur in history to be condemned for antisemitism by France, Germany and the United States.