In a massive legal bombshell, the International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, the first time the court has ever issued such warrants against leaders of a democratic country.
The three judges of the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I issue the warrants unanimously on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes that the court’s prosecutor Karim Khan alleges were committed during the prosecution of the current war against Hamas in Gaza.
Both Netanyahu and Gallant will be liable for arrest if they travel to any of the more than 120 countries that are party to the ICC.
The court also issues a warrant for Mohammed Deif of the Hamas terror group over the October 7, 2023, massacre that sparked the war. Israel says it killed Deif in an airstrike, but Hamas has never formally acknowledged the death of the shadowy head of its military wing.
The decision turns Netanyahu and the others into internationally wanted suspects and is likely to further isolate them and complicate efforts to negotiate a ceasefire to end the 13-month conflict. But its practical implications could be limited since Israel and its major ally, the United States, are not members of the court.
The ICC says Israel’s acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction was not required.
Members of Israel’s government issue harsh condemnations of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, accusing it of antisemitism in the wake of its decision to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.
The court has “once against shown that it is antisemitic through and through,” declares far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
“The answer to the arrest warrants is applying sovereignty over all the territories of Judea and Samaria and settlement in all parts of the country and severing ties with the terrorist [Palestinian] authority, along with sanctions,” he tweets.
“This is modern antisemitism in the guise of justice,” tweets Transportation Minister Miri Regev, calling the warrants “a legal absurdity.”
“Israel will not apologize for protecting its citizens. This is not a crime, this is our national and moral duty,” she argues.
Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf characterizes the warrants as “antisemitic accusations against all citizens of Israel” — pledging that Jerusalem will “not be deterred and will continue to fight murderous terrorism.”
MK Avi Maoz, a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, calls the court’s decision “hypocrisy of the worst kind.” The far-right politician accuses the court of “ingratiating itself to murderous dictatorships and ignoring serious global corruption” in order to go after a country in the middle of an “existential war.”
“Simply antisemitism, always antisemitism,” says Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, citing a verse from the Book of Numbers that states that the Jews are “a people that dwells alone, not reckoned among the nations.”
Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu states that it was “lucky that Churchill didn’t have to ask for permission from The Hague before saving Europe from the Nazis.”
“The court in The Hague has marked itself as the successor of the court of Sodom,” says Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock, comparing the ICC to the wicked Biblical city. “I expect the nations of the free world to withdraw from it in disgust, before they are stained with this terrible stain.
- Opposition leaders slam ICC over ‘shameful’ Netanyahu, Gallant warrants
- Netanyahu meeting with US Lebanon envoy Hochstein over ceasefire talks
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