“The conclusion of the prosecutor of the Worldwide Prison Court docket (ICC) is absurd and false. It’s a type of ‘new anti-Semitism’,” mentioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The ICC prosecutor’s workplace requested an arrest warrant for, amongst others, Netanyahu and Protection Minister Joav Gallant.
Benjamin Netanyahu / GIL COHEN-MAGEN / POOL / PAP / EPA
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan introduced on Monday that he had requested an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, Galant and three Hamas leaders – Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniya – on affordable suspicions of their accountability for struggle crimes and crimes towards humanity dedicated since October 2023 .within the territory of Israel and the Gaza Strip.
This conclusion is directed towards Israeli troopers who’re preventing with the utmost heroism towards the vile Hamas murderers, Netanyahu emphasised in a video revealed on social media.
I reject with disgust the comparability made by the prosecutor in The Hague between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas (…) how can one have the audacity to check Hamas, which murdered, burned, raped and kidnapped our family members, with Israeli troopers who perform a righteous struggle – famous the Israeli Prime Minister.
Netanyahu mentioned he absolutely rejects Khan’s movement, which “fully distorts actuality” and is a manifestation of a “new anti-Semitism” that has moved from college campuses to The Hague. The Hague is the seat of the ICC, a tribunal established to strive particular individuals accused of committing essentially the most critical crimes.
In flip, US President Joe Biden condemned the request for an arrest warrant for the Prime Minister and the Minister of Protection of Israel. He mentioned it was “outrageous”.
“No matter this prosecutor would possibly counsel, there is no such thing as a equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas,” Biden mentioned in a press release. He assured that the US “will all the time stand by Israel within the face of threats to its safety.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed an analogous tone, describing the motion of the ICC prosecutor as “disgraceful” in his assertion. He assessed that Khan’s choice could jeopardize efforts to succeed in a ceasefire settlement, launch the hostages and improve humanitarian assist within the Gaza Strip. Based on Blinken, the ICC has “no jurisdiction” over Israel.
He additionally acknowledged that Israel was ready to cooperate with the courtroom and {that a} prosecutor was scheduled to go to Israel subsequent week however as a substitute went on cable tv to announce the fees, Reuters reported. These and different circumstances name into query the validity and credibility of this investigation, famous the US Secretary of State.
Khan’s software listed – individually for the leaders of Hamas, individually for Netanyahu and Galant – an inventory of struggle crimes and crimes towards humanity that, based on the ICC prosecutor’s workplace, might be attributed to them.
Khan accused Hamas leaders of, amongst others, murders, hostage-taking, rape and sexual violence, torture and different “inhumane acts”, as a part of “a widespread and systematic assault by Hamas and different armed teams towards the civilian inhabitants of Israel”. It was famous that these crimes didn’t finish on October 7, however a few of them proceed to today.
The Prime Minister and Minister of Protection of Israel had been accused of, amongst others, crimes of utilizing hunger as a technique of warfare, willfully inflicting nice struggling, murders and deliberately concentrating on civilians.
In each instances, the ICC prosecutor famous that the accusations had been primarily based, amongst different issues, on: on interviews with eyewitnesses and victims in addition to audiovisual supplies. The courtroom’s judges, who will hear Khan’s software, resolve whether or not to problem arrest warrants.
