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The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced arrest warrants this week for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as well as three Hamas leaders. The move — placing Netanyahu and  Gallant among world leaders infamous for heinous acts against humanity — is  outrageous, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy said.

Prosecutor Karim Khan said he focused on actions taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 when militants stormed southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostages, and on Israel’s military response in Gaza, which has killed roughly 35,000 Palestinians.

“Indicting Netanyahu and Gallant for reacting to Hamas’ Oct. 7 outrage and Netanyahu and Gallant committing to protecting the Israeli people and their existence is outrageous,” Cassidy, R-La., said during a Wednesday conference call. “Saying Israel and Hamas are somehow morally on the same plane, that’s just not true. Hamas has one goal — to kill all the Jews and to eradicate Israel from the face of the earth. This cannot be compared to the Israeli government defending their people after the largest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.”

Cassidy said it was also the largest assault upon American citizens since 9/11 because there were 43 Americans killed or missing since the attack.

“The United States stands and will always stand with Israel and the Jewish people,” he said.

Border security

The situation at the Texas-Mexico border “continues to be out of control,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy, R-La., said since President Joe Biden took office, there have been 9.65 million illegal border crossings “thanks to his welcome-and-release policy into the United States.”

Democrats are expected this week to bring back a border to the Senate floor that failed a few weeks ago.

“This isn’t an earnest attempt to make it better,” Cassidy said. “This is an attempt to make it politically palatable to make it somehow able to be passed. It’s a political stunt to try to score political points ahead of the elections this November in which the American people understand that Joe Biden is responsible for this influx of people coming across the border.”

Cassidy said the bill won’t pass the Senate and, he said, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has assured him it won’t pass the House.

“If Democrats are serious about securing our border, protecting our national security they would allow for amendments and discussion that enables creating a bill that can pass,” he said. “Securing the border is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue, it’s an American issue, and remains a priority for me.”