BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Democrat turned independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is firing back against repeated claims that he’s a spoiler in the 2024 election rematch between President Biden and former President Donald Trump.

Kennedy on Wednesday once again argued that he, rather than Biden, is the only candidate who can defeat Trump in November — and showcased a new internal poll conducted by his campaign to make his point — as he announced an unusual ‘no-spoiler pledge.’

‘This is a no-spoiler pledge that we’re announcing today. This is a pledge that I offer to take if President Biden also takes it,’ Kennedy said at a news conference where the candidate took no questions from reporters.

Kennedy said his pledge calls for him and Biden to ‘agree to co-fund in October a 50-state poll with 30,000 or more likely voters. This is essentially, effectively, a zero margin of error, in October of 2024. The survey will test the results of a head-to-head race pitting President Biden versus President Trump and a second head-to-head race pitting me against President Trump.’

Kennedy emphasized that ‘whoever performs weakest against President Trump in a two-man contest will drop out of the presidential race. This is a spoiler pledge.’

The longtime environmental activist and high-profile vaccine skeptic, who is the scion of the nation’s most storied political dynasty, said he’s ‘happy to make the same pledge’ with Trump. But he added that ‘Trump is not a spoiler because he can actually win.’

The Biden campaign did not respond to Kennedy’s proposal.

But Democratic National Committee (DNC) spokesperson Matt Corridoni, in a statement to Fox News, charged that Kennedy ‘is a spoiler – recruited by the MAGA GOP and propped by Trump’s largest donor. His VEEP-like performance today does nothing to dispel that notion – it only reinforces how deeply unserious his campaign is.’

Corridoni is one of a handful of veteran communicators the DNC brought onboard earlier this year to target Kennedy and other third-party and independent candidates.

In making his announcement, Kennedy and his campaign manager — daughter-in-law Amaryllis Fox Kennedy — spotlighted a campaign-issued internal poll of over 26,000 respondents from all 50 states that they used to make their point that Kennedy, rather than Biden, has the better shot of defeating Trump in a two-candidate showdown in November.

‘The people who think I’m spoiling it for Biden need to look at data,’ Kennedy argued.

Kennedy launched his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in April of last year, but in October the 70-year-old candidate switched to an independent run for the White House. 

The Biden campaign and the DNC have repeatedly slammed Kennedy as a potential spoiler whose supporters could hand Trump a presidential election victory in November.

‘We are doing everything in our power to get President Biden and Vice President Harris re-elected. It’s critical that we take seriously every possible obstacle to that goal,’ Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis emphasized in a recent conference call with reporters. ‘And let me be clear, that’s exactly what Robert F. Kennedy is in this election. He’s a spoiler.’ 

Plenty of pundits and pollsters are making the case that Kennedy also could pose a similar problem for Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

And as Kennedy has increased his appearances on conservative media the past couple of months, the former president and his campaign have increasingly characterized Kennedy, whose populism on some issues seems similar to Trump’s, as a far-left politician.

Trump this past weekend repeatedly went on his Truth Social site to blast Kennedy, charging he was a ‘Democrat ‘Plant’’ and ‘far more LIBERAL than anyone running as a Democrat.’ The former president argued that ‘A Vote for Junior’ would essentially be a WASTED PROTEST VOTE.’

Kennedy fired back, saying in a social media post, ‘When frightened men take to social media they risk descending into vitriol, which makes them sound unhinged,’  

And, he claimed, ‘President Trump’s rant against me is a barely coherent barrage of wild and inaccurate claims that should best be resolved in the American tradition of presidential debate.’

Kennedy’s goal is to get on the ballot in all 50 states, which is a costly and time-consuming venture for independent candidates.

Kennedy’s campaign announced earlier this week he would be on the ballot in California, which has 54 electoral votes, the most of any state. Kennedy secured the nomination of the American Independent Party, a minor third party.

Kennedy’s also on the ballot as an independent in Utah and in Hawaii through a newly formed political party. Two weeks ago, Kennedy also made the ballot in Michigan, a crucial general election battleground state, courtesy of another third party.

And his campaign said Kennedy has collected enough signatures to meet ballot access thresholds in the battlegrounds of North Carolina and Nevada, the swing state of New Hampshire, as well as Nebraska and Iowa.

Republican senators on Wednesday accused President Biden of being more critical of U.S. ally Israel than the anti-Israel and antisemitic riots that have evolved out of protests on some college campuses across the country. 

‘Joe Biden is putting more pressure on Israel these days than he is on Hamas itself or on the pro-Hamas chapters on America’s campuses,’ Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said during a press conference. 

Cotton said this wasn’t surprising, citing what he said were ‘antisemitic elements’ of the Democratic Party that have been allowed to ‘fester and grow for years’ under Biden’s watch. Biden has notably criticized Israel and let disagreements between the country and the U.S. be known publicly as Israel continues to battle the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza. 

Biden and his administration’s officials have on several occasions stressed concerns about Israel’s actions to curb civilian deaths as it fights Hamas. The president even threatened that U.S. policy toward Israel would be dependent on the country minimizing civilian casualties after seven aid workers were recently killed by an Israeli strike. 

An encampment protesting Israel’s actions initially began at Columbia University in New York City last month, escalating over the course of roughly two weeks with demonstrators ultimately taking over a campus building. After the building was taken over, the university opted to once again call in the New York City Police Department (NYPD), which arrested 108 people, giving each a trespassing summons. 

Following the beginning of Columbia’s encampment, which gained national media coverage, there have been at least 47 anti-Israel protests at the top 50 universities, as ranked by the U.S. News and World Report in 2024.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said Biden ‘could stop this stuff on a dime’ if he chose, suggesting the president could call universities and threaten their federal funding to motivate them to break up the unruly demonstrations. 

However, he said, ‘It just goes to show you that even old people can s–k,’ in reference to Biden, who is 81 years old. 

Kennedy also pointed to poor polling for the president, saying that Biden is not taking action because he is ‘scared to death to alienate the Hamas wing of the Democratic Party.’

Cotton excoriated the demonstrations, describing them as ‘little Gazas that have risen up on campuses across America.’ He also called them ‘disgusting cesspools of antisemitic hate, full of pro-Hamas sympathizers.’

‘Fanatics and freaks,’ Cotton added. 

According to the Arkansas senator, Biden needs to condemn the ‘Hamas campus sympathizers’ without ‘equivocating about Israelis fighting a righteous war of survival.’ 

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement Tuesday, ‘President Biden has stood against repugnant, antisemitic smears and violent rhetoric his entire life. He condemns the use of the term ‘intifada,’ as he has the other tragic and dangerous hate speech displayed in recent days. President Biden respects the right to free expression, but protests must be peaceful and lawful. Forcibly taking over buildings is not peaceful – it is wrong. And hate speech and hate symbols have no place in America.’

However, Biden hasn’t made direct comments condemning the protests and riots and has not indicated any federal action.

Cotton reiterated his calls on the departments of State, Homeland Security, Justice and Education to address the escalating protests and riots. He urged them to revoke visas for students participating and deport them, investigate any funding behind the protests, and stop funding schools that ‘won’t protect the civil rights of their Jewish students.’

Cotton and Kennedy were joined by Republican Sens. James Lankford of Oklahoma, Rick Scott of Florida, Joni Ernst of Iowa, John Cornyn of Texas and Roger Marshall of Kansas.

The White House did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital.

The Biden administration has allowed billions in sanctions waivers that benefit Iran, with estimated billions more in unsanctioned oil sales, which allows the Iranian government to continue diverting money to its drone factories and funding proxy groups, an expert told Fox News Digital. 

‘What happens when you end up releasing that money is that it goes into the general funds, which can then be used in lots of different ways,’ Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), explained. 

‘If they are using the sanctions relief to fund their general budget, then ultimately [they] are to the benefit of the IRGC because the IRGC partakes in that regular budget,’ Schanzer said, noting the Biden administration has often argued that any waivers do not ultimately and directly benefit the Iranian military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). 

‘Let me put it this way: There is no way to do it without ultimately benefiting the regime and its ultimate objective, which is to fund its malign activities abroad,’ Schanzer, a former terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury noted.

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the Biden administration ‘has not lifted a single sanction on Iran. Rather, we continue to increase pressure.’ 

‘Our extensive sanctions on Iran remain in place, and we continue to enforce them,’ the spokesperson said. ‘Over the last three years, the U.S. has sanctioned over 600 individuals and entities connected to the full range of Iran’s problematic and dangerous behaviors, UAV and missile proliferation, terrorism, terrorist financing and other forms of illicit trade, horrific human rights abuses and support for proxy terrorist groups.’ 

‘We have even seen the regime fail to meet its own revenue expectations as it struggles to evade our sanctions and find illicit buyers for its oil,’ the spokesperson said, not commenting on the fact Iran does find buyers for its oil. The spokesperson insisted that the U.S. sanctions, in combination with ‘Iran’s economy and regime mismanagement,’ have brought the country’s currency ‘to the lowest it has ever been against the U.S. dollar.’ 

A second State Department spokesperson reiterated the fact that the sanctions waiver allowing Iraq to buy electricity from Iran has been renewed 21 times since the Trump administration first issued the waiver in 2018 and that ‘any notion’ that money goes to Iran due to the waivers ‘is false and misleading.’ 

‘We have been in ongoing engagement with allies and partners, including at the G-7 and with the EU, on ways to increase pressure on Iran,’ the second spokesperson said. 

A Fox News Digital analysis, in combination with the FDD’s research, determined that Iran has received between $16 billion and $20 billion in sanctions waivers, with billions more gained through the sale of Iranian oil, which the U.S. has sanctioned but has not managed to totally prevent due to a mixture of lax government oversight and more sophisticated evasion methods. 

That includes a $10 billion sanctions waiver so Iraq can trade to obtain electricity from Iran, a $6 billion sanctions waiver agreed for South Korea to transfer money in exchange for the release of five Americans and $3.8 billion gained through the sale of petrochemicals in order to dodge a Trump-era sanction. 

The U.S. State Department in March came under fire for resuming a sanctions waiver, which had been renewed since the Trump administration first issued the waiver in 2018. Some experts estimated the waiver as having a valuation of around $10 billion for Iran. 

That waiver particularly allowed for the transfer of funds between Iran and Iraq so that Iraq, which remains a U.S. ally, could continue to use electricity imported from Iran – but critics saw it merely as another easement on sanctions against Iran. 

‘None of this money goes to the mullahs. None of this money goes into Tehran. The sanctions relief that is provided actually goes to vendors that provide humanitarian assistance to the Iranian people,’ White House national security advisor John Kirby told reporters at the time. 

‘Not only do the Iraqi people not suffer because of this, the Iranian people aren’t going to suffer because of this,’ Kirby added. ‘That allows for Iraq to be able to work its way off of Iranian energy so that they can keep the lights on.’

Schanzer countered the administration’s argument by noting that ‘as soon as [money] hits the system, it is going to be diverted or used in a cynical way,’ even taking what humanitarian aid gets into the country through third-party vendors and reselling it to the civilian population, effectively laundering the assistance into money. 

‘When we talk about dual-use goods or even things that they need in order to feed their fighters things along those lines, it is a consistently cynical diversion scheme,’ Schanzer said. ‘Whether we’re talking about Iran itself or we’re talking about Iran’s proxies.’

‘When the administration was saying that we shouldn’t be putting sanctions on the Houthis because it would ultimately block humanitarian assistance from getting into Yemen – guess what?’ Schanzer continued. ‘When that humanitarian assistance gets to Yemen, who benefits? The people that control the territory in question, which right now a large chunk of Yemen is controlled by the Houthis.’ 

The New York Times in February published the results of an investigation that determined Iran had managed to sell ‘oil worth billions of dollars’ thanks to ‘a significant gap in U.S. oversight.’ Shipping vessels owned by shell companies and using ‘spoofing’ methods to hide their location made dozens of trips throughout 2023 to ferry Iran’s oil under the sanctions. 

The lack of a total crackdown on Iran’s oil shipments has led a significant number of experts to argue that the Biden administration may have started willfully turning a blind eye to Iran’s activities – partially since the surge in oil sales is clear and evident.

Javier Blas, a long-time energy and commodities reporter, wrote in a Bloomberg op-ed that ‘the conspiracy theorist inside me says the White House has turned a blind eye to the Iranian sales because it’s more worried about inflation … not only has Iran boosted oil production, but its exports have surged even more because it’s been able to sell a large chunk of the crude it was forced to put in the past into storage, both onshore and into tankers turned into floating storage facilities.’ 

Iran’s growing cooperation with China also plays a significant role in how the country has managed to dodge sanctions, according to Foreign Policy, which cited a 25-year economic cooperation agreement the two countries agreed to in March 2021, as well as Iran’s decision to join the Beijing-led BRICS economic bloc, which gives Iran access to other currencies and trading options. 

‘There’s no question that Russia, China and others are working to provide assistance to the Iranians,’ Schanzer claimed. ‘We know this to be the case, but, with the Russians and Chinese, it’s often done in trade or in arms purchases, oil … if they get remuneration in rubles or in RMB (Chinese Yuan) in trade surplus where they can cash in for other products that’s not the same as dollars, and it’s not the same as some of the goods that will come through American channels.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall contributed to this report. 

The Biden administration is considering welcoming certain Palestinians to the U.S. as refugees as they seek to escape war-torn Gaza amid the ongoing war in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas.

Senior officials across several federal U.S. agencies have discussed in recent weeks the details of potential options to accept Palestinians from Gaza who have immediate family members who are American citizens or permanent U.S. residents, internal federal government documents show, according to CBS News.

One proposal involves using the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to bring Palestinians with U.S. connections who have escaped Gaza and entered neighboring Egypt, the documents reveal.

U.S. officials have also considered welcoming additional Palestinians out of Gaza and are processing them as refugees if they have American relatives, according to the documents. This proposal would have to rely on coordination with Egypt, which has thus far been reluctant to welcome large numbers of people from Gaza.

People from Gaza who pass a series of eligibility, medical and security screenings would qualify to be flown to the U.S. with refugee status, which includes permanent residency, resettlement benefits like housing assistance and a path to American citizenship.

The number of people eligible is expected to be relatively small, but the proposed plans could provide a lifeline to some Palestinians seeking to escape the Israel-Hamas war.

This, as the Hamas-run government’s Health Ministry estimates more than34,000dead, more than 77,000 injured and hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced in Gaza.

Hamas terrorists launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,200 people, prompting military retaliation from Israeli forces. Hamas also kidnapped more than 200 people, with many of them still in captivity.

‘Since the beginning of the conflict, the United States has helped more than 1,800 American citizens and their families leave Gaza, many of whom have come to the United States,’ a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital. ‘At President Biden’s direction, we have also helped, and will continue to help, some particularly vulnerable individuals, such as children with serious health problems and children who were receiving treatment for cancer, get out of harm’s way and receive care at nearby hospitals in the region.’

‘The United States also continues to be the largest contributor of humanitarian assistance to Gaza to address the dire conditions, and we are pressing hard to get more urgently-needed aid in to more people as soon as possible,’ the spokesperson continued. ‘We have also been clear and consistent: the United States categorically rejects any actions leading to the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank or the redrawing of the borders of Gaza. The best path forward is to achieve a sustainable cease-fire through a hostage deal that will stabilize the situation and pave the way to a two-state solution.’

The proposals also come after President Biden issued a memorandum on Deferred Enforced Departure in February for certain Palestinians who were already in the U.S.

The plan to bring certain Palestinians to the U.S. as refugees would represent a shift in longstanding U.S. government policy and practice, as the U.S. refugee program has not resettled Palestinians in large numbers since its inception in 1980.

In the past decade, the U.S. has resettled more than 400,000 refugees fleeing violence and war across the world, but less than 600 were Palestinian. In fiscal year 2023, the U.S. accepted 56 Palestinian refugees out of the more than 60,000 refugees resettled during that 12 month span, according to data from the State Department.

For applicants to qualify to enter the U.S. as a refugee, they must prove they are fleeing persecution based on certain factors, such as nationality, religion or political views.

The administration’s plans to welcome Palestinian refugees, even if only a small number, could lead to criticism from Republican lawmakers who look to make the illegal immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border a central issue ahead of the November elections.

Shortly after Hamas’ attack against Israel on Oct. 7, top Republicans said the U.S. should not welcome Palestinian refugees, claiming that they are antisemitic and potential national security risks.

The Biden administration in recent years has dramatically increased refugee resettlement. Officials have established a goal of accepting up to 125,000 refugees in fiscal year 2024, which ends at the end of September.

The refugee resettlement was cut to record lows during the Trump administration.

House conservatives are warily watching their Democratic counterparts after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., led a statement promising to protect Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., from a GOP-led ouster threat.

‘Some people are wondering if this isn’t like a psy-op, where the Dems are saying we’re going to publicly support you because they want, at the end of the day, for him to be vacated?’ Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.

House Democratic leaders released a joint statement on Tuesday declaring they would block a House-wide vote on ousting Johnson by voting to table the measure, known as a motion to vacate the chair. It’s a procedural hurdle that takes place before the main vote which, if successful, would block the House from voting on the motion itself.

Greene leading effort 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is leading GOP rebel threats to trigger a vote on removing Johnson from House leadership in protest of his bipartisan efforts on government funding and foreign aid. 

Several more lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital wondered aloud whether Democrats’ announcement was a ploy to goad Greene into forcing the vote.

‘In some ways, it’s almost like they’re just trying to push her to do it, and I don’t know if that’s the best thing,’ Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., said.

‘Just strange’

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said when asked if Democrats were trying to goad Greene, ‘That’s what I’ve heard. That’s the rumor on the Hill, that’s what it’s about.’

‘I mean it’s just strange. What role do they play? Why?…They didn’t come for [former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.] but they’re coming to keep [Johnson]? They’re going to have to answer for that,’ Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told reporters, referencing the fact that all House Democrats voted to oust McCarthy in October.

Both Mace and Norman also pointed out they themselves were against ousting Johnson.

Since Greene filed the resolution nearly 40 days ago, it has earned two co-sponsors in Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., after the House passed a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine this month. But for the most part, it has fallen flat within the GOP.

Even Johnson’s critics in the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus have distanced themselves from the push to oust Johnson, signaling little appetite for the three weeks of chaos that followed the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., last fall.

 ‘Privileged’

Greene would have to declare her resolution as ‘privileged’ on the House floor to force leaders to take it up within two legislative days, though she has not yet indicated what she’ll do.

She and Massie are holding a press conference responding to House Democrats’ announcement on Wednesday morning.

Jeffries said in the joint statement with House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., ‘From the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have put people over politics and found bipartisan common ground with traditional Republicans in order to deliver real results. At the same time, House Democrats have aggressively pushed back against MAGA extremism. We will continue to do just that.’

‘At this moment, upon completion of our national security work, the time has come to turn the page on this chapter of Pro-Putin Republican obstruction. We will vote to table Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Motion to Vacate the Chair. If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed,’ they said.

The announcement came during Johnson’s regular weekly press conference and seemingly caught the speaker unaware.

‘First I’ve heard of it,’ he said when asked by a reporter. ‘Look, I have to do my job. We have to do what we believe to be the right thing. What the country needs right now is a functioning Congress.’

Greene posted on X in response to Democrats’ statement, ‘Every day, I fight the Democrat agenda destroying America and I fight for an America First Republican agenda. Mike Johnson is officially the Democrat Speaker of the House. Here is their official endorsement of his Speakership. What slimy back room deal did Johnson make for the Democrats’ support?’

Fox News Digital reached out to Greene and Jeffries’ offices for comment.

U.S. troops could be forced into a Russian war if the surrounding NATO countries fail to increase their military spending, according to former President Mike Pence’s lobbying group, Advancing American Freedom (AAF).

In a memo sent to Congress on Tuesday, AAF claims several countries have not fulfilled their NATO-sanctioned 2% obligation, leaving the heaviest burden on the U.S. In 2014, only the U.S., U.K., and Greece upheld its treaty obligations during Russia’s Crimea invasion, with non-compliant countries averaging 1.3% of GDP on defense.

What’s more, under the Biden administration, some countries like Turkey, Norway and Italy have regressed, moving closer to 2014 levels despite overall spending growth, according to the memo.

‘By contrast, the Trump-Pence Administration made improving allied-burden sharing a major priority for foreign policy to significant effect,’ the memo reads. 

‘This trend is especially alarming to observe in countries bordering Russia and Ukraine,’ the memo said, adding that ‘the countries closest to the conflict ought to be carrying the lion’s share of the burden.’

The 2% obligation refers to the commitment made by NATO allies to allocate at least 2% of their GDP to defense spending. 

While all NATO countries in the region raised defense spending after Crimea’s annexation, Norway and Romania reduced military expenditures during the Biden administration, despite increased Russian activity as it launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. AAF concluded the U.S. ‘must find ways to encourage and, if necessary, pressure its allies’ to uphold its end of NATO’s burden-sharing commitment.

‘Unless these trends are reversed, our deterrence strategy will fail, Russia will likely invade a NATO ally, and the U.S. will be required to send troops overseas to honor our Article 5 mutual defense pledge,’ the memo reads.

Marc Short, chairman of the AAF board, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that ‘NATO has been rightly criticized by many conservatives for the United States paying the bill while our European allies skimp out and fail to meet basic spending requirements for membership despite flush social spending.’

‘Amid a new Cold War with the Chinese Communist Party, a resurgent Russia, and their partner in crime in the Middle East, Iran, the Biden Administration has neglected to strengthen NATO by holding members accountable for the 2% obligation,’ Short said. ‘Under the Biden Administration, just one NATO member has joined the 2% club.’

On Monday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that vital U.S. weapons were starting to arrive in Ukraine in small amounts, but that it needed to move faster. NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg also told Ukrainians on Monday that his alliance’s members had failed to live up to their promises of military aid in recent months, but said the flow of arms and ammunition would now increase.

Last week, U.S. Congress also passed a months-long debated $60 billion aid package for Ukraine’s continued war endeavors against Russia. The controversial aid was tacked onto a $95 billion foreign aid package that President Joe Biden signed shortly after. 

Reuters contributed to this report.

Three House Republicans from New York wrote a letter Tuesday imploring the Biden administration to prevent the ‘sham prosecution’ of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli government officials by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes. 

Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., spearheaded the letter co-signed by House GOP Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Rep. Marcus Molinaro, R-N.Y. to President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken citing ‘incredible concerning reports’ that the ICC plans to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and several senior officials within the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). 

‘As the Israeli government continues its military operations in the Gaza Strip with the goal of wiping out the terrorist group Hamas, the United States must remain steadfast in its support of our greatest ally,’ D’Esposito, Stefanik and Molinaro wrote. ‘You both must ensure that any error, like your abandonment of Israel at the United Nations Security Council in March 2024, is not repeated when dealing with these accusations.’ 

Critics charged Biden with abandoning Israel and the hostages taken by Hamas amid the administration’s failure late last month to veto a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution calling for a cease-fire, putting further strain on the administration’s relationship with America’s closest ally in the Middle East. 

‘Any misguided attempt by the ICC to prosecute leaders of the Israeli government in the midst of that nation’s justified defensive war against Hamas terrorists would be extraordinarily troubling, and I am calling on President Biden and the entire administration to do everything possible to defend our Israeli allies and demand the ICC investigate the proponents of the Oct. 7 terror attack,’ D’Esposito said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

Tuesday’s letter notes that the ICC has never been recognized by any presidential administration and neither the United States nor Israel have ever been a part of the court empaneled in The Hague, Netherlands. 

‘If the Court does decide to move forward with these sham prosecutions, based on accusations leveled by terrorist organizations and corrupt foreign governments,’ the three Republicans from New York warned ‘there must be consequences’ and called on the Biden administration to ‘consider the harshest punishments for those involved with this prosecution if they do move forward.’

‘The leadership of our greatest ally stands falsely accused of war crimes, ranging from disproportionate force to deliberately starving the Palestinian civilians within the Gaza Strip,’ the letter says. ‘These accusations cannot be further from the truth. The civilian casualty ratio reported during these ongoing operations in the Gaza Strip is one of the lowest in any instance of urban warfare. That remains true even if you believe the figures coming from the Gaza Health Ministry.’ 

The lawmakers said Israel has attempted to allow ‘as much well-vetted humanitarian aid in as possible under the current security situation, accompanied by direct aid deliveries from the United States and our allies’ and asserted ‘with attacks by terrorist groups within Gaza on the humanitarian aid pier being constructed by United States military personnel, the ICC should consider who really does not want aid reaching the civilian population.’

‘There must not be any false equivalencies made between Israel and the barbaric terrorist organizations like Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the other members of the Palestinian Joint Operations Room who directly targeted and massacred Israeli civilians on October 7th, 2023,’ the letter says. ‘In its operations in the Gaza Strip, Israel has attempted to minimize civilian casualties. In their terrorist attacks in Israel, members of the Palestinian Joint Operations Room did everything possible to maximize civilian harm.’ 

Esposito, Stefanik and Molinaro told the Biden administration that the United States ‘must continue to pressure the ICC to prevent any of these warrants being issued for members of the Israeli government.’ 

‘The ICC’s time and resources would be much better spent prosecuting the leadership of terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, who sit in lavish apartment blocks in Qatar, far away from the conflict, whose members have been well documented engaging in war crimes on October 7th,’ the letter says. ‘If they do decide to move forward with these arrest warrants, it is our hope that the administration will stand with our ally Israel, reject any attempts to execute these warrants, and enforce severe consequences on those engaged in this sham prosecution. We look forward to a prompt reply and immediate action.’ 

The letter comes as Israeli officials grow increasingly concerned that the ICC could issue arrest warrants against them as the Jewish state continues its more than six-month-long war against Hamas.

The ICC was established in 2002 as the permanent court of last resort to prosecute individuals responsible for the world’s most heinous atrocities — war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression. The U.N. General Assembly endorsed the ICC, but the court is independent.

Without a police force, the ICC relies on member states to arrest suspects, which has proven to be a major obstacle to prosecutions, according to The Associated Press. 

Netanyahu said Friday on the social platform X that Israel ‘will never accept any attempt by the ICC to undermine its inherent right of self-defense.’ 

‘While the ICC will not affect Israel’s actions, it would set a dangerous precedent,’ he wrote.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said late Sunday that it had informed missions abroad of ‘rumors’ that the court could order the arrest of senior Israeli political and military officials. 

Fox News’ Benjamin Weinthal and The Associated Press contributed to this report.