Netanyahu, Gallant, Deif ‘wanted’ by ICC for war crimes

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif. have been declared wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

“The Chamber issued warrants of arrest for two individuals, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024”, a statement from the court said.

There are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Gallant and Netanyahu “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity”, the statement continued, covering only part of the allegations against them.

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The court said it “unanimously” decided to issue the warrant against him “for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on the territory of the State of Israel and the State of Palestine from at least 7 October 2023”.
The alleged crimes include firing rockets at Israeli territory and the October 7 attacks that killed at least 1,139 Israelis.

The ICC decisions, including arrest warrants for Israeli leaders Netanyahu and Gallant, are binding for all 27 member states of the EU as parties to the Rome Statute, according to the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell.

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The former defence minister Yoav said  the warrant issued by the ICC for his arrest sets a “dangerous precedent”.

“The decision of the court in The Hague will be remembered forever – it places the State of Israel and the murderous leaders of Hamas in the same row and thus legitimises the murder of babies, the rape of women and the abduction of the elderly from their beds,” he wrote on X.

“The decision sets a dangerous precedent against the right to self-defence and ethical warfare and encourages murderous terrorism.”

A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, states that Israel is fighting a just and moral war … and that Israel is not going to cave into any sort of pressure, that the prime minister is going to continue on with each and every single war effort until all of the goals of the war are achieved. It’s important to note that this is a war with little to no military achievements.

The arrest warrants will be sent to all the member states of the ICC, 125 now with Ukraine, the latest member, and then all these countries have a legal obligation to arrest these people.

So in any country of these 125 member states, when they appear there, these countries, the authorities there have the obligation to detain them and hand them over to The Hague.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu is now officially a wanted man,” said Amnesty Secretary-General Agnes Callamard.

“ICC member states and the whole international community must stop at nothing until these individuals are brought to trial before the ICC’s independent and impartial judges.”

Mixed reaction from political leaders have trail the decision by the ICC.  Jeremy Corbyn, the former UK Labour Party chief and an incumbent independent lawmaker, said the arrest warrants are long overdue.

The government must immediately endorse the decision as a “bare minimum”, he wrote on X.

“Will the UK government now, finally, honour its international obligations to prevent genocide and end all arms sales to Israel?”

Javier Milei, the pro-Israeli president of Argentina, said the country “does not agree” with the ICC decision because it “ignores Israel’s right to defend itself against the ongoing attacks by terrorist organisations such as Hamas and Hezbollah”.

The office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said the government “appreciates the brave and just stance” of the ICC and also renewed its calls to stop the war and urged “all free countries to implement this decision”.
Michael Mansfield, an international human rights lawyer, says Israel is an “unjust state that has never respected the rule of law”.

Israel is trying to “deflect responsibility” and its objective has been to destroy Gaza and make it “uninhabitable”, Mansfield told Al Jazeera. Netanyahu will not end the war in Gaza, he said, until this objective is met.

“If he ends the war, he is in trouble. He’s in trouble if he leaves the country … and if he stays in Israel … he’s awaiting prosecution there,” Mansfield said.

The issuing of the ICC warrants “makes a difference to world opinion, because I don’t think that the regime in Israel has recognised the extent in which they are being isolated – morally isolated”, he said.

White House has however  rejected the warrant arrest of Netanyahu and Gallant, Spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated that the Biden administration “fundamentally rejects” the arrest warrants.

Asked about Republican calls for sanctioning court officials, Jean-Pierre told reporters: “We are in consultation with our partners, which include Israel, about our next steps.”

“The United States fundamentally rejects the court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials,” the spokesperson said.

“We remain deeply concerned by the prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision.”

Meanwhile, the Palestinian group says that the International Criminal Court’s issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister are an “important step towards justice”.

“[It] can lead to redress for the victims in general, but it remains limited and symbolic if it is not supported by all means by all countries around the world,” Hamas political bureau member Basem Naim said in a statement.
The court also issued a warrant for the leader of Hamas’s Qassam Bridages, Mohammed Deif, who is believed to have been assassinated by Israel in July.