Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and former defence minister, as well as the military commander of Hamas.
A statement said a pre-trial chamber had rejected Israel’s challenges to the court’s jurisdiction and issued warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.
A warrant was also issued for Mohammed Deif of Hamas, although Israel has said he was killed in an air strike in Gaza in July.
The judges said there were “reasonable grounds” the three men bore “criminal responsibility” for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war between Israel and Hamas. Both Israel and Hamas have rejected the allegations.
The Israeli prime minister’s office condemned the ICC’s decision as “antisemitic”, while Hamas said the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant have set an “important historical precedent”.
The impact of these warrants will in part depend on whether the ICC’s 124 member states – which do not include Israel or its main ally, the United States – decide to enforce them or not.
In a statement, the White House said the US rejected the ICC decision.
A White House National Security Council spokesperson said the US “fundamentally rejects” the court’s decision.
“We remain deeply concerned by the prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision,” a White House national security council spokesperson said.
“The United States has been clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter. In co-ordination with partners, including Israel, we are discussing next steps.”
However, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said it was “not a political decision”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is wanted over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, received a warm welcome and was not arrested during an official visit to neighbouring Mongolia – an ICC member – in September.
Mongolia was found to have failed with the Court’s Request for Cooperation in violation of the Rome Statute.
Mongolian Erdenebalsuren Damdin still occupies the chair of ICC Judge.
Following calls from, among others, Ukraine, the European Union, and the ICC to either deny entry to Putin or to arrest him, a Mongolian government spokesperson told Politico that the country was dependent on Russian energy and thus wasn’t prepared to arrest the Russian president.
“Mongolia imports 95 percent of its petroleum products and over 20 percent of electricity from our immediate neighborhood…. This supply is critical to ensure our existence and that of our people,” the spokesperson said.
The ICC does not possess an enforcement mechanism.
South Africa, another ICC member, also failed to arrest then-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir when he visited the country in 2015 despite him facing a warrant for alleged war crimes in the Darfur region.
Multiply failures show limits of International Criminal Court.
Discussion about this post