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Posted by admin on 2024-05-21 |

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The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar for alleged war crimes.

“Today, we once again underline that international law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all. No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader - no one – can act with impunity,” said Karim Khan, Prosecutor of the ICC.

Allegations

Khan said there were reasonable grounds to believe that both men bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity from the day of Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October onwards.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh, and the group’s military chief Mohammed Deif are also targets for arrest.

To complement the allegations, Prosecutor Khan, a British national born in Edinburgh, noted that his Office had interviewed victims and survivors of the 7 October Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel.

What’s next?

ICC judges will now decide whether they believe the evidence is sufficient to issue arrest warrants - something which could take weeks or months.

Although the ICC operates independently of the United Nations, it has a cooperation agreement with the UN. The UN Security Council can refer situations to the ICC to grant it jurisdiction when necessary.

Israel, Not in Immediate danger

The warrants, if granted by the ICC judges, would mean that any of the 124 ICC member states would technically be obliged to arrest Netanyahu and the others if they travelled there, a point noted by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

However, ICC has no mechanism to enforce its warrants.

Israel, not being an ICC member, means Netanyahu and Gallant face no immediate prosecution risk even if warrants are issued.

Condemnation of the Arrest Warrants

“Contrary to allegations against Israel made by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), what’s happening in Gaza is not genocide. We reject that,” Biden said in his speech.

“There is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas,” Biden added, calling the ICC warrants “outrageous” in a strongly-worded statement.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the chief prosecutor’s decision to seek arrest warrants against Israel’s leaders is “a historic disgrace that will be remembered forever.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he rejected “with disgust The Hague prosecutor’s comparison between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas”.