Netanyahu Condemns ICC’s War Crimes Arrest Warrant

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant against him and former Defense Minister Yves Gallant for war crimes as ‘anti-Semitism’.

He said the ICC was “falsely” accusing them of “deliberately targeting civilians, when we do everything in our power to avoid civilian casualties”.

The ICC has also issued warrants for Hamas commander Mohammad Def. Israel says he was killed in Gaza in July.

ICC judges said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Israel and Hamas had “criminal responsibility” for crimes committed during the war.

US President Joe Biden termed the ICC’s action against the Israeli authorities as ‘outrageous’.

“Whatever the ICC means, there is no equality between Israel and Hamas — none at all,” Biden said in a statement. statement. “We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”

Both Israel and Hamas deny the allegations made by the ICC.

In a statement on Thursday, Netanyahu said: “The anti-Semitism ruling of the International Court of Justice in The Hague is a modern Dreyfus trial, and it will end that way.”

He was referring to one. A high-profile case of antisemitism In France just over a century ago.

“The Hague court has accused us of a policy of deliberate starvation,” the Israeli prime minister said.

“This is when we have delivered 700,000 tons of food to Gaza to feed the people of Gaza. We send millions of text messages, phone calls, leaflets to Gazans to get them out of harm’s way. Their power to put them in harm’s way, including shooting them, using them as human shields.”

Netanyahu said Israel “will not recognize the validity” of the ICC decision.

This week only, Palestinians “face declining conditions for survival,” UN warns Parts of northern Gaza remain under siege by Israeli forces as virtually no aid has been delivered in 40 days.

Gallant said the ICC “aligned the murderous leaders of the State of Israel and Hamas and thereby justified the killing of children, the rape of women and the abduction of the elderly from their beds”.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the BBC that while he was critical of Netanyahu’s handling of the conflict with Hamas, he disagreed with the ICC’s decision.

“Israel has not committed genocide or war crimes that deserve the charges against the prime minister and the defense minister,” Olmert told Radio 4’s World Tonight program.

Hamas made no mention of the defamation warrant but said the move against Netanyahu and Gallant was an “important historical precedent, and correction of a long line of historical injustices against our people.”

Palestinians in Gaza expressed hope that Israeli leaders would now be brought to justice.

Israel denies allegations that its forces are committing genocide in Gaza, which is the subject of a separate case before the International Court of Justice.

Effects of Warrant issued by ICC That will depend on whether the court’s 124 member states — which do not include Israel or its ally the United States — decide to enforce them.

Several European countries have said they respect the ICC’s decisions. Downing Street said the British government respects the ICC’s independence.

The prosecutor’s case against the three men dates back to October 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage back to Gaza.

Israel responded by launching a military campaign to eliminate Hamas, which has killed at least 44,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.

for the deaf, An ICC Pre-Trial Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that he was “responsible for murder, manslaughter, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence; as well as murder, cruel treatment, war crimes of torture; hostage-taking.” making; personal dignity and other forms of rape and sexual violence.”

It also said there were reasonable grounds to believe that the crimes against humanity were “part of a widespread and systematic attack directed by Hamas and other armed groups against Israel’s civilian population”.

For Netanyahu and Gallant, who was replaced as defense minister earlier this month, the chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that he “accepts criminal responsibility for the following offenses for acting in concert with each other; : The war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts”.

He also found reasonable grounds for holding that “each civilian bears criminal responsibility for the war crime of directing an intentional attack against a civilian population as superior officers”.