ICC Issues Arrest Warrants For Israeli PM Netanyahu
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The international court also ordered the arrest of Israeli former defence chief Yoav Gallant following a motion by the ICC prosecutor Karim Khan announced in May.
Khan was seeking arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Al-Masri for alleged crimes connected to the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas and the Israeli military response in Gaza.
The ICC had earlier dismissed Israel’s argument opposing the court’s jurisdiction on the matter.
Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies war crimes in Gaza.
Israel has said it killed Al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, in an airstrike but Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied this.
The United States House of Representatives in June voted to punish the ICC for considering to charge Israeli leaders with war crimes in Gaza.
“The idea that they would issue an arrest warrant for the prime minister of Israel, defense minister of Israel at the time where they’re fighting for their nation’s very existence against the evil of Hamas as a proxy of Iran is unconscionable to us,” Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said on Tuesday.
“And as I said a couple of weeks ago, the ICC has to be punished for this action.”
The proposal passed with 247 votes in favor and 155 opposed, Reuters reports.
Every Republican and 42 pro-Israel Democrats voted yes.
Sponsored by Texas Republican Chip Roy, the bill would see the US impose travel and financial sanctions against ICC officials, giving the US president unilateral authority to end them if the court stops investigating Americans or their allies, or “permanently ends” investigations into protected individuals.
Some Democrats warned that the sanctions could impact some of Washington’s allies which – unlike the US – have ratified the Rome Statute and accepted the ICC’s jurisdiction.
“It would sanction the leaders of some of our strongest allies: the UK, Italy, Germany, Japan. That’s dangerous stuff,” said Congressman Gregory Meeks, the New York Democrat who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“It’s so broad that it becomes very dangerous for us.”
