Human rights attorney Amal Clooney co-authored a report backing International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan’s decision to request a warrant for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders.
Clooney, who married actor George Clooney in 2014, was part of a panel of U.K.-based lawyers who published a report Monday after Khan asked them weigh in on whether five Israeli and Hamas leaders had committed war crimes, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In the report, Clooney and the other attorneys declared their agreement with Khan’s assessment.
In a statement on the Clooney Foundation for Justice website, she wrote that she served on the panel because she believes “in the rule of law and the need to protect civilian lives.”
MADRID, SPAIN – JUNE 22: Amal Clooney attends the “We Choose the Earth” Mundial Conference at the EDP Gran Vía Theater on June 22, 2023 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images)
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day for the six million Jews killed during World War II, at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem on May 5, 2024. (Photo by Menahem Kahana / AFP) (Photo by MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)
“The law that protects civilians in war was developed more than 100 years ago and it applies in every country in the world regardless of the reasons for a conflict,” Clooney wrote. “As a human rights lawyer, I will never accept that one child’s life has less value than another’s.”
She went on to acknowledge the weight of her decision and provide further explanation.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 15: (L-R) Amal Clooney and George Clooney attend the 2nd Annual Academy Museum Gala at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on October 15, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/WireImage)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) heads the weekly cabinet meeting at the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv on January 7, 2024. (Photo by RONEN ZVULUN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by RONEN ZVULUN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
“I do not accept that any conflict should be beyond the reach of the law, nor that any perpetrator should be above the law. So I support the historic step that the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has taken to bring justice to victims of atrocities in Israel and Palestine,” she wrote in her statement.
Clooney shared her perspective alongside five other lawyers — Adrian Fulford, Theodor Meron, Danny Friedman, Helena Kennedy and Elizabeth Wilmhurst — in a Financial Times op-ed published Monday.
They attorneys wrote that they “engaged in an extensive process of review and analysis,” that included the witness statements, videos and photographs, and expert evidence to reach an informed decision.
LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 04: Amal Clooney attends The Fashion Awards 2023 presented by Pandora at the Royal Albert Hall on December 04, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Joe Maher/Getty Images)
TEL AVIV, ISRAEL – FEBRUARY 24: A man waves an Israeli flag as people gather on Kaplan street outside the HaKirya base which serves as the IDF’s headquarters to demand the resignation of Benjamin Netanyahu and a new election on February 24, 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
After investigating, the panel unanimously agreed with Khan’s assessment that “there are reasonable grounds to believe that three of Hamas’s most senior leaders had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the op-ed reads.
The six lawyers cited Hamas’ murder of hundreds of civilians and the kidnapping of at least 245 people, along with acts of sexual violence against Israeli hostages. (RELATED: Lawyers Pushing For Netanyahu’s Arrest Think Oct. 7 Was Justified: REPORT)
The panel also concluded that Khan’s evidence “provides reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Israel’s minister of defense Yoav Gallant have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
The op-ed specifically mentioned “the war crime of intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and the murder and persecution of Palestinians as crimes against humanity,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.