# International Criminal Court

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "International Criminal Court," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/international-criminal-court/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The Hague tribunal created by the Rome Statute, which has charged Benjamin Netanyahu with war crimes and crimes against humanity. John Kiriakou supports it as the necessary successor to Nuremberg, notes that neither the United States nor Israel is a signatory, and observes that a forced landing in a signatory state would oblige that country to arrest Netanyahu.*

- **Seat:** The Hague
- **Founding instrument:** The Rome Statute
- **Non-signatories:** The United States and Israel
- **Kiriakou's analogy:** Nuremberg, where Nazi war criminals were given a fair trial, and some were acquitted
- **Precedent he cites:** Slobodan Milošević, who "died in a prison cell in The Hague. As he should have."
- **Charges against [Netanyahu](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/benjamin-netanyahu):** War crimes and crimes against humanity

The **International Criminal Court** sits at The Hague and was created by the Rome Statute. [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) describes the statute as having made the court *"something akin to what we had at Nuremberg after the Second World War where Nazi war criminals were given a fair trial. Some were acquitted and others were convicted, some were executed, some were imprisoned."* His view of the principle is unambiguous: *"there ought to be an international agreement that when somebody commits war crimes or somebody commits crimes against humanity, that they're dealt with."* The precedent he reaches for is Slobodan Milošević, who *"died in a prison cell in The Hague. As he should have."*[1][2]

## The signatory gap

Neither the United States nor Israel is a party, *"And so [Netanyahu](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/benjamin-netanyahu) is free to come and go from the United States as he pleases. And he comes many times a year."*[3]

The exposure Kiriakou identifies is accidental rather than deliberate travel, and he sets it out as a chain of obligations: *"what happens if he has a medical emergency on a flight? What happens if the plane has engine trouble and it's forced to land in Italy, Austria, Greece, Spain, wherever, Ireland. The leaders of those countries are compelled by treaty to arrest him and to turn him over to the ICC."*[3] The American answer to that contingency already exists in statute, see [Hague Invasion Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/hague-invasion-act).

## "Unelected bureaucrats"

Netanyahu's public objection, made to Sean Hannity, is that the court is *"an unelected unelected bureaucracy that sits in The Hague"* which could declare American soldiers and even the president war criminals. Kiriakou grants the description and denies that it is an argument: *"when Netanyahu talks about unelected bureaucrats, you know, yeah. That's the way the world works. Every country has unelected bureaucrats. That's how governments operate. Who elected the Nuremberg Tribunal? Nobody. They were appointed by the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. And it worked. It showed that rule of law is really a thing that needs to be respected."*[4][5]

What the court exists to reach, in his framing, is a policy rather than an incident: *"you cannot have your policy be to just go into some place like Gaza or the West Bank and kill everybody. Men, women, children, the elderly. You flatten the hospitals, you flatten the flatten the homes, you flatten the schools, and then whoever survives, you starve them. Those are war crimes and crimes against humanity."* He adds that the United States will shield Israel from the consequences but that *"most other countries aren't. They aren't going to save you."*[6][7]

## The Nuremberg lineage

Kiriakou grounds the court's legitimacy in a precedent rather than in a treaty. Neither the United States nor Israel is a signatory to the Rome Statute, which created the ICC and made it *"something akin to what we had at Nuremberg after the Second World War, where Nazi war criminals were given a fair trial."* He is careful about what that trial produced, *"some were acquitted and others were convicted, some were executed, some were imprisoned"*, and states the principle he takes from it plainly: *"there ought to be an international agreement that when somebody commits war crimes or somebody commits crimes against humanity that they're dealt with."*[8]

His example of the principle working is Slobodan Milošević, the former Yugoslav leader, who *"died in a prison cell in The Hague as he should have."*[9]

He answers the charge that the court is run by unelected officials by turning it on the precedent: *"Who elected the Nuremberg tribunal? Nobody. They were appointed by the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. And it worked."* The lesson he draws is that the arrangement *"showed that rule of law is really a thing that needs to be respected."*[10][11]

## The forced-landing problem

Because neither state recognises the court, [Netanyahu](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/benjamin-netanyahu) travels to the United States freely and often. The exposure Kiriakou identifies is accidental rather than diplomatic: a medical emergency in the air, or engine trouble forcing a landing in Italy, Austria, Greece, Spain or Ireland, where *"the leaders of those countries are compelled by treaty to arrest him and to turn him over to the ICC."* The American answer to that scenario is the [Hague Invasion Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/hague-invasion-act).[9][12]

## See also

- [Hague Invasion Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/hague-invasion-act)
- [Benjamin Netanyahu](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/benjamin-netanyahu)
- [Graham–Netanyahu ICC tapes](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/graham-netanyahu-icc-tapes)

## Sources

1. Is It Over For Netanyahu? Poll Shows Most Americans Support His ARREST | Ep. 6 (2026-07-30), at 18:37. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-utK73sjrc4&t=1117s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-30-john-kiriakou-is-it-over-for-netanyahu-poll-shows-most-amer/
2. Is It Over For Netanyahu? Poll Shows Most Americans Support His ARREST | Ep. 6 (2026-07-30), at 19:08. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-utK73sjrc4&t=1148s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-30-john-kiriakou-is-it-over-for-netanyahu-poll-shows-most-amer/
3. Is It Over For Netanyahu? Poll Shows Most Americans Support His ARREST | Ep. 6 (2026-07-30), at 19:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-utK73sjrc4&t=1180s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-30-john-kiriakou-is-it-over-for-netanyahu-poll-shows-most-amer/
4. Is It Over For Netanyahu? Poll Shows Most Americans Support His ARREST | Ep. 6 (2026-07-30), at 18:07. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-utK73sjrc4&t=1087s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-30-john-kiriakou-is-it-over-for-netanyahu-poll-shows-most-amer/
5. Is It Over For Netanyahu? Poll Shows Most Americans Support His ARREST | Ep. 6 (2026-07-30), at 20:43. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-utK73sjrc4&t=1243s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-30-john-kiriakou-is-it-over-for-netanyahu-poll-shows-most-amer/
6. Is It Over For Netanyahu? Poll Shows Most Americans Support His ARREST | Ep. 6 (2026-07-30), at 21:13. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-utK73sjrc4&t=1273s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-30-john-kiriakou-is-it-over-for-netanyahu-poll-shows-most-amer/
7. Is It Over For Netanyahu? Poll Shows Most Americans Support His ARREST | Ep. 6 (2026-07-30), at 21:44. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-utK73sjrc4&t=1304s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-30-john-kiriakou-is-it-over-for-netanyahu-poll-shows-most-amer/
8. John Kiriakou on Netanyahu's Private Meeting with JD Vance (2026-08-06), at 39:07. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF51y2a5Od0&t=2347s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-06-the-kiriakou-archive-john-kiriakou-on-netanyahu-s-private-meeting/
9. John Kiriakou on Netanyahu's Private Meeting with JD Vance (2026-08-06), at 39:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF51y2a5Od0&t=2380s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-06-the-kiriakou-archive-john-kiriakou-on-netanyahu-s-private-meeting/
10. John Kiriakou on Netanyahu's Private Meeting with JD Vance (2026-08-06), at 40:43. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF51y2a5Od0&t=2443s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-06-the-kiriakou-archive-john-kiriakou-on-netanyahu-s-private-meeting/
11. John Kiriakou on Netanyahu's Private Meeting with JD Vance (2026-08-06), at 41:14. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF51y2a5Od0&t=2474s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-06-the-kiriakou-archive-john-kiriakou-on-netanyahu-s-private-meeting/
12. John Kiriakou on Netanyahu's Private Meeting with JD Vance (2026-08-06), at 40:10. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF51y2a5Od0&t=2410s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-06-the-kiriakou-archive-john-kiriakou-on-netanyahu-s-private-meeting/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/international-criminal-court/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt