The International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants on Thursday (21) for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The Court also issued an arrest warrant for Muhammad Deif, the Hamas military chief, for crimes against humanity, including murder, hostage-taking, and sexual violence. Israel claims to have killed Deif in an airstrike, but the court stated it could not confirm the Palestinian’s death.
The warrants issued on Thursday have not yet been made public, but the court said they include charges of using starvation as a weapon of war and “intentional targeting of an attack against the civilian population.”
Netanyahu’s government rejected what it called “absurd and false accusations,” insisting that Israel would continue to defend its citizens by fighting in Gaza. The Israeli leader “will not yield to pressure; he will not retreat or withdraw until all the objectives of the war — which were defined at the outset of the battle — are achieved,” the cabinet said in a statement.
The decision places Netanyahu, leader of one of the closest allies of the United States, in the same line as Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, who is the target of an arrest warrant issued last year. Netanyahu faces the risk of arrest if he travels to one of the 124 member nations of the court, including most European countries, but not the United States.
Hamas officials celebrated the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant — without mentioning the charges against Deif. A senior Hamas official stated that, regardless of whether any arrests were made, “the truth that has been revealed is that international justice is with us and against” Israel.
Israel has faced increasing condemnation due to the war against Hamas in Gaza, where more than 44,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel claims it fights in accordance with international laws of war.
Netanyahu is among a handful of world leaders with arrest warrants issued by the ICC. These include Putin, the Russian president, for the invasion of Ukraine; Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled Libya until his death in 2011; and Koudou Laurent Gbagbo, the president of Ivory Coast, for crimes against humanity following the disputed 2010 election.The Hague Court
The International Criminal Court is the highest criminal court in the world, with the authority to prosecute both war leaders and heads of state. However, several powerful countries, including the United States, do not recognize its authority and refuse to become members.
The court was established more than two decades ago to hold individuals accountable for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide under the Rome Statute, a treaty from 1998.
More than 120 countries are members of the court, including many European nations, and members are formally committed to executing arrest warrants if a wanted person steps on their soil. But powerful nations, including China, India, Russia, and Israel, like the United States, are not members.
Governments in the U.S. from both parties have argued that the court should not exercise its authority over citizens of countries that are not members of the court.
The Biden administration quickly expressed opposition to the ICC’s decision.
“The United States fundamentally rejects the court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials,” said a spokesperson for President Biden’s National Security Council in a statement. “We remain deeply concerned about the prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling procedural errors that led to this decision.”Source: The New York Times