US Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has repeatedly refused to call Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin “war criminals” on Tuesday.
In an interview with Zeteo’s Mehdi Hasan, Stein was first grilled on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in which thousands of Ukrainians have died, claiming that she has not called out the Russian president for attacks on civilians.
Hasan confronted Stein on perceived double standards over her stance on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who the veteran Green politician has rightfully called a war criminal, while she has not made the same charge against Putin or Assad, despite vast war crimes committed by both in Syria and Ukraine.
“We looked at your social media and you haven’t done that many posts specifically calling out Russian attacks on civilian areas [in Ukraine],” Hasan said. “You haven’t called Vladimir Putin a war criminal, but you have called Benjamin Netanyahu a war criminal.”
Hasan then asked Stein if she thought Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was a war criminal.
“Yes,” Stein replied. “In so many words, yes, we have said as much,” she added before Hasan asked her point blank: “Is Putin a war criminal?”
The New Arab could not find any previous statement made by Stein calling Bashar al-Assad a war criminal.
Despite her seemingly reluctant admission that Assad was a war criminal, Hasan had a tougher time getting Stein to call Putin one.
Hasan inquired as to why she called Netanyahu a war criminal publicly but not Putin.
“Well, as John F. Kennedy said, we must not negotiate out of fear and we must not fear to negotiate,” she replied. “So, if you want to be an effective world leader, you don’t start by name-calling and hurling epithets.”
“So, how will President Stein negotiate with Israel then if you’ve called Netanyahu a war criminal?” Hasan asked in response.
“Well, because he very clearly is a war criminal,” Stein said, prompting a perplexed Hasan to ask: “So Putin clearly isn’t a war criminal?”
“Well, we don’t have a decision – put it this way – by the International Criminal Court,” Stein said.
The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Putin, alleging that he is responsible for war crimes.
No such warrant has been yet been issued for Netanyahu, whose war on Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians. However, the chief prosecutor of the ICC has applied for an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister.
Stein attempted to clarify her response by pointing out that the US sponsors Netanyahu and opposes Russia, which makes the Israeli prime minister “our dog in the fight” while “Russia is far more complicated”.
This led to Hasan bluntly saying: “Either you’re a war criminal or you’re not.”
In December 2015, Stein was photographed sitting at Putin’s table at a dinner in Moscow, at the 10th anniversary celebration of the Russian state television channel RT. The channel has since been banned in several countries for spreading Russian propaganda during the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Also in 2015, during her then-presidential run, she urged the US to “work with” Assad and Putin in the Middle East, at a time when both were committing atrocities against Syrian civilians, while also calling all Syrian rebels, many of whom fight the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, “jihadis”.
“The US should be working with Syria, Russia, and Iran to restore all of Syria to control by the government rather than jihadi rebels,” the statement said.
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