Netanyahu denounces bid to arrest him over Gaza war
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has angrily condemned the International Criminal Courtâs prosecutor for seeking arrest warrants for him alongside Hamasâs leaders over alleged war crimes in the Gaza conflict.
Mr Netanyahu said he rejected with disgust that âdemocratic Israelâ had been compared with what he called âmass murderersâ.
Mr Netanyahuâs comments have been echoed by US President Joe Biden, who said there was no equivalence between Israel and Hamas.
The chief ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant bore criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The ICC is also seeking a warrant for Hamasâs leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, for war crimes.
Israel and the US, its key ally, are not members of the ICC, which was set up in 2002.
Israelâs continuing offensive in the Gaza Strip has forced many Palestinians to flee their homes [EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock]
The accusations against the Israeli and Hamas leaders stem from the events of 7 October, when waves of Hamas gunmen attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 252 others back to Gaza as hostages. The attack triggered the current war, in which at least 35,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territoryâs Hamas-run health ministry.
On Monday, Mr Biden said there was âno equivalence â none â between Israel and Hamasâ.
âItâs clear Israel wants to do all it can to ensure civilian protection,â Mr Biden added.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed the presidentâs condemnation, saying Washington âfundamentally rejectsâ the move. âIt is shameful,â he said. â[The] ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter.â
Mr Blinken also suggested the request for arrest warrants would jeopardise ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire deal.
Mr Khan also applied for arrest warrants for Mr Gallant and Hamasâs political leader Ismail Haniyeh, along with the groupâs military chief Mohammed Deif.
He said Israelâs prime minister and defence minister were suspected of crimes including starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, murder, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, and extermination.
The prosecutor said the alleged crimes began âfrom at least 7 October 2023â in the Hamas leadersâ case, when the group launched its attack on Israel, and âfrom at least 8 October 2023â for the Israeli leaders.
The ICC defended its stance on Monday, saying that despite âsignificant effortsâ it had not received âany information that has demonstrated genuine action at the domestic level [in Israel] to address the crimes alleged or the individuals under investigationâ.
A panel of judges at the ICC must now consider whether to issue the warrants and, if they do, countries signed up to the ICC statute are obliged to arrest the men if they have such an opportunity.
Hamasâs deadly attack on 7 October devastated a number of Israeli settlements [Reuters]
Mr Netanyahu, Israelâs longest-serving prime minister, condemned the application to seek his arrest as âan absurd and false orderâ.
In a public statement in Hebrew, he asked âwith what audacityâ the ICC would âdare to compareâ Hamas and Israel.
The comparison was a âdistortion of realityâ, Mr Netanyahu said.
He accused the prosecutor of âcallously pouring gasoline on the fires of antisemitism that are raging across the worldâ.
Israelâs Foreign Minister Israel Katz called the move by Mr Khan an âunrestrained frontal assaultâ on the victims of the 7 October attacks and a âhistorical disgrace that will be remembered foreverâ.
But some of Israelâs Western allies avoided directly criticising the ICC in their statements.
In a statement late on Monday, the French foreign ministry said it supported the court and what it called its âfight against impunity in all situationsâ.
Similarly, Germanyâs foreign ministry said it ârespects the independence and proceduresâ of the ICC.
However, Berlin did criticise the simultaneous publication of the charges against Israeli and Hamas leaders, saying the move âcreated the incorrect impression of equivalencyâ.
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Hamas earlier made its own demand for âthe cancellation of all arrest warrants issued against leaders of the Palestinian resistanceâ.
âHamas strongly denounces the attempts of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to equate the victim with the executioner,â the group said.
The group also complained that the application for warrants against Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant had come âseven months lateâ, and that other Israeli political and military leaders had not been named alongside them.
Mr Khan accused the Hamas leaders of having committed crimes including extermination, murder, hostage taking, rape and sexual violence, and torture.
Why đ will the prosecutor says that, this is false accusations