Israel fears ICC preparing to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu, govt officials on war charges

Benjamin Netanyahu. Pic/AFP

Israeli officials believe that the International Criminal Court is preparing to issue arrest warrants for senior government officials on charges related to the ongoing war with Hamas, The New York Times reported, citing five Israeli and foreign officials.

The Israeli officials believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's name will be included in a warrant, the report said. Further, the Israeli and foreign officials believe the court is considering issuing arrest warrants for leaders from Hamas. It is not clear who might be charged by Hamas or what crimes would be mentioned.

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If the court proceeds, the Israeli officials could potentially be accused of preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip after a harsh response to the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, according to two of the five officials, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.

The Israeli officials did not reveal the nature of the information that sparked concerns about potential ICC action and the court did not make a statement on the matter, The New York Times reported.

ICC's arrest warrants would probably be considered a humbling moral rebuke, particularly to Israel, as the nation has faced backlash over its military action in Gaza, including from US President Joe Biden, who described it "over the top."

The arrest warrants could impact Israel's policies as the country continues to conduct its counter-offensive against Hamas. The Israeli and foreign officials said they did not know about the stage of the process.

Any warrants would need approval from a panel of judges and would not necessarily lead to a trial or even the target's immediate arrest. ICC's chief prosecutor Karim Khan has previously said that his team is carrying out investigation into incidents during the war, The New York Times reported.

Earlier on April 26, Netanyahu said that any intervention by the ICC "would set a dangerous precedent that threatens the soldiers and officials of all democracies fighting savage terrorism and wanton aggression," The New York Times reported. Although he did not mention what prompted his statement.

Netanyahu further said, "Under my leadership, Israel will never accept any attempt by the ICC to undermine its inherent right of self-defense. The threat to seize the soldiers and officials of the Middle East's only democracy and the world's only Jewish state is outrageous. We will not bow to it."

Meanwhile, the US administration does not support the International Criminal Court's investigation into Israel's actions in Gaza, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a press briefing on Monday.

Asked whether the issue of ICC's potential warrants was discussed during talks between Israeli PM Netanyahu and US President Biden, Jean-Pierre said, "I don't have anything to read out beyond the readout. I don't have anything to lay out there. Obviously, and I said this moments ago, what was significantly discussed, the primary focus of that call was obviously that hostage deal, getting to a ceasefire, getting humanitarian aid into Gaza. That was incredibly important. And obviously our continued support for Israel's security. That continues to be ironclad, obviously, that we've shown that."

"But, we need to get to that hostage deal. We need to get the hostages home. We need to get to a ceasefire and that was the primary conversation. And obviously the Rafah operations was discussed as well. We just don't believe it's in the ICC jurisdiction in this situation. We do not support the investigation and I think that kind of answers that question. When we say we do not support this and we do not believe it's in their jurisdiction, ICC's jurisdiction," she said.

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