The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor’s bid to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leaders of Hamas over alleged war crimes in the Gaza conflict has been met with fierce criticism from Netanyahu.
He expressed outrage at the comparison of “democratic Israel” with what he termed as “mass murderers”.
US President Joe Biden supported Netanyahu’s stance, asserting that there was no comparison between Israel and Hamas. The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, however, stated that there were valid reasons to suspect Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The ICC is also pursuing a warrant for Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader in Gaza, for war crimes. Neither Israel nor its main ally, the US, are members of the ICC, which was established in 2002. The charges against the Israeli and Hamas leaders originate from the events of October 7, when Hamas gunmen launched an attack on Israel, resulting in approximately 1,200 deaths and 252 hostages taken back to Gaza. This attack sparked the ongoing war, which has led to the death of at least 35,500 Palestinians in Gaza, as reported by the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
On Monday, Biden reiterated his stance, stating, “There is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas”. He further added that Israel is committed to ensuring civilian protection.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken supported the president’s condemnation, stating that Washington “fundamentally rejects” the move and labelled it as “shameful”. He also indicated that the request for arrest warrants could potentially hinder ongoing ceasefire negotiations.
Khan has also sought arrest warrants for Gallant, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader, and the group’s military chief Mohammed Deif. He accused Israel’s prime minister and defence minister of crimes including starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, murder, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, and extermination.
The ICC defended its position on Monday, stating that despite “significant efforts”, it had not received any information demonstrating genuine action at the domestic level in Israel to address the alleged crimes or the individuals under investigation.
A panel of ICC judges will now decide whether to issue the warrants. If they do, countries that are signatories to the ICC statute are obliged to arrest the men if given the opportunity. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, denounced the application for his arrest as “an absurd and false order”.
In a public statement in Hebrew, he questioned the ICC’s audacity to “dare to compare” Hamas and Israel. He labelled the comparison as a “distortion of reality” and accused the prosecutor of “callously pouring gasoline on the fires of antisemitism that are raging across the world”.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz described Khan’s move as an “unrestrained frontal assault” on the victims of the October 7 attacks and a “historical disgrace that will be remembered forever”.
However, some of Israel’s Western allies refrained from directly criticising the ICC in their statements. The French foreign ministry expressed its support for the court and its “fight against impunity in all situations”. Similarly, Germany’s foreign ministry stated that it “respects the independence and procedures” of the ICC, but criticised the simultaneous publication of the charges against Israeli and Hamas leaders, stating that it “created the incorrect impression of equivalency”.
