George Clooney Contacted the White House Over Wife’s Work at the ICC
George Clooney reached out to the White House to advocate for the work of his wife, Amal Alamuddin, who took on the actor’s name when they got married in 2014 and is part of the team at the International Criminal Court (ICC) that opened an action against Israeli and Hamas leaders, requesting arrest warrants and accusing them of war crimes. In May, after the ICC’s statement, the actor called one of Joe Biden’s top advisors to complain about the President’s criticism of the organization’s actions, as reported by The Washington Post. Clooney phoned Steve Ricchetti, a presidential advisor, to express his concerns about Biden’s denunciation of the arrest warrants requested by the ICC for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, criticizing the use of the word “outrageous.”
The prosecutors also requested arrest warrants for the top Hamas leaders: Yahya Sinwar, leader in Gaza, Mohammed Deif, military wing commander, and Ismail Haniyeh, leader living in Qatar. The ICC gathered evidence and argues that there are enough grounds to conclude that war crimes have been committed by both Hamas and Israel, hence the warrant requests. Following Karim Khan’s announcement, the ICC prosecutor, Amal Clooney, a renowned human rights lawyer, stated in a post on the Clooney Foundation for Justice website that the prosecutor’s office had recruited her to assist in the investigation, asking her to review evidence of suspected war criminals and provide legal analysis. In April 2022, at an informal meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Amal Clooney urged that war crimes in Ukraine not be forgotten.
Clooney expressed his outrage at the initial idea of the US administration imposing sanctions on the ICC, as his wife could be subjected to those sanctions, sources said. This phone call caused some discomfort in the White House as they are preparing a fundraising event for this Saturday in Los Angeles, with the actor’s participation – other celebrities like actress Julia Roberts and host Jimmy Kimmel will also be present. The actor, producer, and director is known for supporting the Democratic Party. In 2020, he donated over $500,000 to Biden’s campaign and co-hosted an online fundraiser that raised seven million dollars. Last year, the president appointed him to the Presidential Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which advises the president on cultural policy, but before that, in 2022, he received the Kennedy Center Honors.
Earlier in April, at a fundraising event with Biden and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, over 26 million dollars were raised, making it the most successful for a Democratic candidate and giving Biden a financial advantage over Trump. However, according to the Republican candidate’s campaign, the tables turned after Donald Trump’s conviction, with the campaign raising an additional $53 million online within 24 hours of the verdict.
