Israeli leaders would risk arrest if they travelled to any country that had signed the 1998 Rome statute
Team Clarion
THE HAGUE – The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant and the Hamas leader Mohammed Deif accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the 13-month war in Gaza and the October 2023 attack on Israel respectively.
The warrants put Netanyahu and Gallant at risk of arrest if they travel abroad. There have been unconfirmed reports that Deif may have been killed by Israel.
The ICC decision turns Netanyahu and the others into internationally wanted suspects. But its practical implications could be limited since Israel and its major ally, the United States, are not members of the court.
The court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, had requested the arrest warrants in May, saying there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore “criminal responsibility” for causing mass starvation in Gaza that constituted war crimes and crimes against humanity.
On Thursday the court said it had found reasonable grounds to believe that Deif was responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder, torture, rape and hostage-taking relating to the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel in which fighters killed more than 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 250.
The US has previously welcomed ICC war crimes warrants against Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials for atrocities committed in Ukraine, while denouncing the court’s pursuit of Netanyahu and Gallant, a mixed stance which has exposed the Biden administration to accusations of double standards from many UN members, particularly from the global south.
The three-judge panel wrote in its unanimous decision to issue warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant: “The chamber considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”
Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the court, and denies war crimes in Gaza. The ICC said on Thursday that Israel’s acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction was not required.
The Israeli foreign ministry said in September that it had submitted two legal briefs challenging the ICC’s jurisdiction and arguing that the court did not provide Israel with the opportunity to investigate the allegations itself before requesting the warrants.
Some member states have ignored ICC warrants before, but Netanyahu and Gallant would nonetheless risk arrest if they travelled to any country that had signed the 1998 Rome statute.
Khan had also sought warrants for two other senior Hamas figures, Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, but they were both killed in the conflict. Israel has said it has also killed Deif in an airstrike, but Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied this.
Israel’s opposition leaders fiercely criticised the ICC’s move. Benny Gantz, a retired general and political rival to Netanyahu, condemned the decision, saying it showed “moral blindness” and was a “shameful stain of historic proportion that will never be forgotten”. Yair Lapid, another opposition leader, called it a “prize for terror”.
The warrants have been issued at a sensitive moment for Khan, who is facing an external investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. The inquiry will examine the allegations against the prosecutor including claims of unwanted sexual touching and “abuse” over an extended period, as well as coercive behaviour and abuse of authority.
Khan, 54, has denied the allegations and said he will cooperate with the investigation. The alleged victim, an ICC lawyer in her 30s, has previously declined to comment. – With inputs from Agencies