The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his sacked defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas commander Mohammed Deif, whom Israel claims was killed in July.
Judges found “reasonable grounds” to believe the three men were responsible for crimes committed during Israel’s war with Hamas.
Europe and the US were divided in their response to the warrant, with several European countries saying they respect ICC decisions. The British government said it respected the independence of the court.
“Whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence—none—between Israel and Hamas,” Biden said in a statement. “We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”
However, both Israel and Hamas reject the allegations made by the ICC.
In a statement on Thursday, Netanyahu stated that “the antisemitic decision of the international court in The Hague is a modern Dreyfus trial, and it will end the same way.”
He was referring to a high-profile case of antisemitism in France just over a century ago.
“The court in The Hague accuses us of a deliberate policy of starvation,” the Israeli PM said.
“This is when we have supplied Gaza with 700,000 tonnes of food to feed the people of Gaza. We issue millions of text messages, phone calls, and leaflets to the citizens of Gaza to get them out of harm’s way—while the Hamas terrorists do everything in their power to keep them in harm’s way, including shooting them and using them as human shields.”
Netanyahu mentioned that Israel would “not recognise the validity” of the ICC’s decision.
This week, the UN warned that Palestinians in portions of northern Gaza under Israeli siege were “facing diminishing conditions for survival” since virtually no help had been provided in the previous 40 days.
Gallant mentioned that the ICC placed “the state of Israel and the murderous leaders of Hamas in the same row and thus legitimises the murder of babies, the rape of women, and the abduction of the elderly from their beds.”.
Ehud Olmert, a former Israeli prime minister, told the BBC that while he was critical of Netanyahu’s handling of the conflict with Hamas, he did not agree with the ICC’s ruling.
“Israel has not committed genocide or war crimes that deserve these charges against the prime minister and the minister of defence,” Olmert told Radio 4’s World Tonight program.
Hamas made no mention of the Deif warrant but said the move against the Israeli Prime Minister and Gallant constituted an “important historical precedent and a correction to a long path of historical injustice against our people.”.
Palestinians in Gaza voiced hope that Israeli authorities will be brought to justice.
Israel denies that its forces are committing genocide in Gaza, a separate case before the International Court of Justice.
The impact of the ICC’s published warrants will be determined by whether the court’s 124 member states, which do not include Israel or its ally, the United States, opt to enforce them or not.
However, authorities from the European Union, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, and Italy have all issued statements in support of the Court.
EU foreign policy leader Josep Borrell stated that “the court’s decision must be respected and implemented,” while the Dutch foreign minister stated that “we will act on the arrest warrants.”
