By Abbas Al Lawati and Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Photo: AFP / LEO CORREA
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes.
In a statement, the Netherlands-based court said it found “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu bears criminal responsibility for war crimes including “starvation as a method of warfare” and “the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.
It rejected Israel’s challenge of the court’s jurisdiction over the matter.
Israel is not a member of the ICC. The Palestinian Authority is however party to the Rome Statute that established the court and has joined as the State of Palestine.
Former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
Photo: AFP/ ANP
The court also issued a warrant for Hamas official Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, who Israel says was one of the masterminds of the 7 October attack.
Israel said it killed him in an airstrike in September but Hamas has not confirmed his death.
The ICC said it found “reasonable grounds” to believe that Deif was responsible for “crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, torture, and rape and other form of sexual violence, as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture, taking hostages, outrages upon personal dignity, and rape and other form of sexual violence”.
Deif bears “criminal responsibility” for these crimes, the court said, having “committed the acts jointly and through others … having ordered or induced the commission of the crimes”, and for failing to “exercise proper control over forces under his effective command and control”.
The court added that there are “reasonable grounds to believe that the crimes against humanity were part of a widespread and systematic attack directed by Hamas and other armed groups against the civilian population of Israel”.
This is a dark day for justice. A dark day for humanity.
Taken in bad faith, the outrageous decision at the ICC has turned universal justice into a universal laughing stock. It makes a mockery of the sacrifice of all those who fight for justice – from the Allied victory over…
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) November 21, 2024
Israeli condemnation
A number of Israeli politicians condemned the court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.
President Isaac Herzog described the warrants as “a dark day for justice. A dark day for humanity”.
He said in a statement on X that “the outrageous decision at the ICC has turned universal justice into a universal laughing stock. It makes a mockery of the sacrifice of all those who fight for justice”.
He added that the decision “ignores the basic fact that Israel was barbarically attacked and has the duty and right to defend its people. It ignores the fact that Israel is a vibrant democracy, acting under international humanitarian law, and going to great lengths to provide for the humanitarian needs of the civilian population”.
Far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir condemned the ICC as “antisemitic from start to finish”, adding that Israel should respond by “applying sovereignty” to the occupied West Bank and building Jewish settlements in all the territories under Israel’s control.
– CNN