State Department Overcomes Massive Hypocrisy on ICC with Double-Decker Lies
Palestine is a member of the ICC, but the US refuses to recognize that. Matthew Miller at State Department claims Ukraine is a member when it isn't.
At the State Department briefing on Monday spokesperson Matthew Miller overcame the layers of US hypocrisy by simply lying. The US government isn’t a signatory to the International Criminal Court but has sought to use it against other states.
Matt Lee of the AP asked some good questions about the US government’s denunciation of the ICC move on Israel: “Where do the Palestinians go to seek redress?” After Lee was done, I jumped in with “You were fine with the ICC going after Russia in no time flat...” but Miller refused to engage. Miller early in Monday’s news briefing claimed they saw the ICC prosecutor “short-circuit a process that was underway to gather facts” while of course he had waited an incredibly long time before making a move on Israel.
In fact, just weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, the State Department “welcomed the fact that the new incoming prosecutor of the International Criminal Court [Khan] has also opened an investigation into the situation within Ukraine.” See video by
(I’m at 3:20) —Prior to 2022, the US government had been saying that the ICC couldn’t go after Israel because it wasn’t a party. Then, in 2022, it dropped that reasoning to justify using the ICC against Russia (even though it wasn’t a party and neither was Ukraine). I examined this in some questioning and an in-depth piece last year, see below. To overcome these brazen contradictions on Monday, Matt Miller at the State Department yesterday just lied.
Miller claimed on Monday: “the Palestinians, who do not represent a state at this time and so in our view cannot sign the Rome Statute and become – come under the ICC’s jurisdiction.” But the ICC clearly recognizes Palestine as a state party, it’s on their website:
Then, he added another layer to the lie. Toward the end of the news conference Lee picked up my question re Russia: “But the similarity between the two is that neither of them [Israel and Russia] are parties to the Rome Statute, neither of them are members, just like you are not.” Miller responded: “Ukraine is, however, in that case, and that’s why they have jurisdiction in that matter. It’s one of the parties to that conflict is a member – is a signatory.” No. Ukraine is not a state party (though it has accepted ICC jurisdiction). Here’s an alphabetical list from the ICC’s website:
Scratch a lie, find a thief.
Additionally, some of the discussion between Miller and Lee basically claimed that the ICC had not been in Israel when in fact it has. I.e., Miller: “the prosecutor was scheduled to go to Israel.” Lee: “do they have to go to Israel to find…why should they go to Israel?”
See my questioning from last year:
Lies and obfuscations are part and parcel of Matthew Miller's responses on behalf of the State Department. They share that in common with the CIA (per Pompeo) which is one of the reasons they're such good buddies. It's refreshing to hear some of your colleagues still push back at Miller's hypocrisy. Thanks Sam.
I don't understand how our so-called leaders sleep at night.