Netanyahu’s war crimes arrest warrant ‘outrageous’ ICC says Biden

US President Joe Biden has called the International Criminal Court’s war crimes arrest order against the Israeli prime minister “outrageous”.

The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu has now fired defense minister Yoav Gallantand a Hamas commander, Mohammed Deif, who Israel says was killed in July.

The judges said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that the three men were “criminally responsible” for crimes committed during the war between Israel and Hamas.

Europe and the US were divided in reaction to the order, with some European countries saying they respected the ICC’s decisions. The British government said it respects the independence of the court.

“No matter what the ICC implies, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas,” Biden said in a speech. declare. “We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”

Both Israel and Hamas rejected the ICC’s accusations.

In a statement on Thursday, Netanyahu said: “The anti-Semitic decision of the international court in The Hague is a modern Dreyfus trial and it will end the same way.”

He is referring to one prominent case of anti-Semitism in France just over a century ago.

“The court in The Hague accused us of carrying out a policy of deliberate starvation,” the Israeli Prime Minister said.

“This happened when we provided Gaza with 700,000 tons of food to feed the people of Gaza. We sent millions of messages, phone calls, leaflets to the people of Gaza to help them escape danger – while Hamas terrorists do everything.” their power to keep them in danger, including shooting them, using them as human shields.”

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

Just this week, The UN warns that Palestinians are “facing increasingly deteriorating living conditions”. in northern areas Gaza is under siege by Israeli forces as virtually no aid has arrived in 40 days.

Gallant said the ICC had put “the state of Israel and the murderous leaders of Hamas on the same page and thus legitimized the murder of infants, the rape of women and the kidnapping of the elderly from their beds.” .

Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister of Israel, told the BBC that although he criticized Netanyahu’s handling of the conflict with Hamas, he did not agree with the ICC’s decision.

Mr Olmert told Radio 4’s World Tonight programme: “Israel has not committed genocide or war crimes that would merit such charges against the prime minister and defense minister.”

Hamas did not mention the Deif order but said the move against Netanyahu and Gallant constituted an “important historical precedent and a correction to the long line of historical injustice against our people”.

Palestinians in Gaza expressed hope that Israel’s leaders will now be brought to justice.

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

Impact of Warranty published by ICC will depend on whether the court’s 124 member states – which do not include Israel or its ally the US – decide to enforce them.

But officials from the EU, UK, France, the Netherlands and Italy all issued statements siding with the Court.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said “the court’s decision must be respected and enforced”, while the Dutch Foreign Minister said “we will act on the arrest warrant”.

Meanwhile, Israel’s closest allies in the EU rejected the ICC’s move.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he would invite Netanyahu to visit, “and in that invitation I will assure him that if he comes, the ICC ruling will not have effect in Hungary and we will not comply with its content”.

The Czech Prime Minister said the court had made “a regrettable decision” by equating “elected representatives of a democratic country with the leaders of an Islamic terrorist organization”.

South Africa, which sued Israel at the International Court of Justice accusing it of genocide, welcomed the decision and called on “all member states to act in accordance with their obligations in Rome Statute”.

South Africa did not comply with the ICC’s arrest warrant for Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir when he visited the country in June 2015.

The ICC prosecutor’s case against Netanyahu, Gallant and Deif dates back to October 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.

According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, Israel responded by launching a military campaign to eliminate Hamas, in which at least 44,000 people were killed in Gaza.

For Deif, The ICC Trial Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that he was “responsible for crimes against humanity such as murder; extermination; torture; rape and other forms of violence.” other sexual crimes; as well as war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture; rape and other forms of sexual violence.”

They also said there were reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity were “part of a widespread and systematic attack directed by Hamas and other armed groups against Israeli civilians”.

As for Netanyahu and Gallant, who was replaced as defense secretary earlier this month, the chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that they were “each criminally responsible for the following crimes as accomplices to committing acts together with others: the war crime of causing famine as a method of warfare.” ; and crimes against humanity such as murder, repression and other inhumane acts.”

It also found reasonable grounds to believe that “each person is criminally responsible as a civilian superior for the war crime of knowingly directing an attack against civilians”.