Tuesday morning news: May 21, 2024

ICC Israel/Hamas » President Biden is condemning a decision by the top prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, or ICC to seek war crimes arrest warrants for Israeli leaders.

BIDEN: There is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas. (applause)

The president, speaking at a White House celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month.

BIDEN: Contrary to allegations against Israel made by the International Court of Justice, what’s happening is not genocide. We reject that.

Hours earlier, ICC prosecutor Karim Kahn said he’s seeking arrest warrants for top leaders of Hamas and Israel, accusing both of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza war.

KHAN:  Nothing on earth can justify willfully depriving human beings, including women, women and children, babies, the old and the young, of the basic necessities required for life.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to Kahn’s announcement. He called the decision “a moral outrage of historic proportions.”

NETANYAHU: He is callously pouring gasoline on the fires of antisemitism that are raging across the world. Through this incendiary decision, Mr. Khan takes his place among the great antisemites in modern times.

Neither the United States nor Israel recognize the authority of the ICC in this matter.

And Republican lawmakers in the House are now considering new sanctions against the international court.

Jake Sullivan in Israel » Meantime, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel on Monday. WORLD’s Mark Mellinger has more.

SOUND: [Cameras snapping]

MARK MELLINGER: Cameras flashed as the two leaders shook hands in Tel Aviv.

They discussed an arrangement under which Saudi Arabia would, for the first time, grant Israel diplomatic recognition in exchange for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Sullivan urged Netanyahu to connect the war in Gaza to a political strategy for the territory’s future.

The White House called the talks ‘constructive.’

So far, Netanyahu has rejected all calls for a two-state solution.

For WORLD, I’m Mark Mellinger.

SOUND: [Mourners in Tehran]

U.S. responds to death of Iranian president » Hundreds of people gathered in Tehran yesterday to mourn the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

Raisi was among eight people who died in a helicopter crash in a mountainous region of northern Iran over the weekend.

The leaders of several countries offered their condolences, including China’s Xi Jinping, who called his death a great loss for Iran. And Russian President Vladimir Putin called Raisi a true friend.

U.S. officials were far less sentimental. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller:

MILLER: We regret any loss of life. We don’t want to see anyone die in a helicopter crash. But that doesn’t change the reality of his record, both as a judge and as a president of Iran – the fact that he has blood on his hands.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed a vice president to serve in Raisi’s stead and ordered that elections be held within 50 days.

Austin on Ukraine defense » Top Pentagon officials met Monday with leaders from dozens of other nations backing Ukraine against Russia’s onslaught. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. CQ Brown …

BROWN:  Ukraine defense contact group has stood together in the face of this Russian aggression, and we will continue to stand together to support Ukraine and defend the international order.

And Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin vowed to keep weapons flowing to Ukraine amid a new Russian offensive.

AUSTIN:  Putin's forces have opened another front to seize sovereign Ukrainian territory and the Kremlin's invaders are obliterating Ukrainian villages, killing innocent civilians and bombarding civilian infrastructure, including dams and power plants.

Russia is ramping up attacks in Ukraine’s northern Kharkiv region.

Austin is asking allies to chip in more to Ukraine's air defense systems.

Trump trial » Donald Trump was back in a Manhattan courtroom again Monday after campaigning over the weekend for week-6 of his so-called hush money case. The former president told reporters:

TRUMP:  New York State can't let this happen. There were no crimes. We did nothing wrong. And I want to get back to campaigning. I'm representing millions and millions, hundreds of millions of people.

The jury heard from defense witnesses on Monday, including one who directly refuted a key claim made by the prosecution’s star witness, former Trump lawyer Michale Cohen.

Former federal prosecutor Robert Costello said Cohen had told him that Trump knew nothing about a payment Cohen made to a woman to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump.

Defense attorneys also further called Cohen’s credibility into question … when he also admitted to jurors that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from Trump’s company.

Julian Assange » A court in London has ruled WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can appeal his extradition to the United States further dragging out a yearslong legal fight.

His wife Stella Assange told reporters …

STELLA ASSANGE: The judges reached the right decision. We spent a long time hearing the United States putting lipstick on a pig, but the judges did not buy it.

Assange has spent the past several years in a British high security prison. His lawyers argued that if extradited, he wouldn’t have the same free speech protections as an American.

Assange is charged with espionage for publishing classified U.S. documents from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He claims he’s guilty only of practicing journalism.

But the U.S. government says he did not merely receive and publish the documents, but also played an active role in stealing them.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: The political fallout from a helicopter crash in Iran. Plus, wildfire recovery in Texas.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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