The prosecutor at the International Criminal Court has requested an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant as well as against three Hamas leaders.
The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague, says he has requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Joaw Gallant as well as for the three leaders of the militant Islamist Hamas.
Prosecutor Karim Khan said he believes that Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas leaders Jahia Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, called Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh are responsible for war crimes and crimes in connection with the war in the Middle East that has been going on for more than seven months are responsible against humanity in the Gaza Strip and in Israel.
“Accountability must be given for actions”
Netanyahu and Gallant are accused, among other things, of being responsible for starving civilians as a method of warfare as well as indiscriminate killings and targeted attacks on civilians.
Regarding Israel’s actions, Khan’s statement said that “the impact of the use of starvation as a method of warfare, along with other attacks and collective punishments against the civilian population in Gaza, is acute, visible and widely known.” These included “malnutrition, dehydration, deep suffering and a growing number of deaths among the Palestinian population, including babies, other children and women.”
The prosecutor accuses the Hamas leaders of, among other things, “extermination” as well as murder, hostage-taking, rape and torture as crimes against humanity. On the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel that sparked the war, he said he had seen with his own eyes “the devastating scenes of those attacks and the profound impact of the unconscionable crimes cited in the applications filed today.”
In conversations with survivors, he learned “how the love within a family, the deepest bonds between parents and children, were distorted to cause unimaginable pain through calculated cruelty and extreme callousness. Accountability must be given for these acts.”
Judges now have to decide
The ICC judges must now decide whether the requested international arrest warrants will be issued. The chief prosecutor must apply for the arrest warrants to a three-judge preliminary investigation committee, which takes an average of two months to examine the evidence and decide whether the proceedings can continue.
The court has no ability to execute arrest warrants. However, in the event of an enforcement action, the freedom of movement of those wanted is severely restricted.
One consequence of the arrest warrants would be that all contracting states to the court would be obliged to arrest those wanted and hand them over to the court as soon as they are in their country. Khan’s announcement also deepens Israel’s international isolation. Israel is not a state party to the ICC.
Both Sinwar and Deif are believed to be hiding in the Gaza Strip, where they are wanted by Israel. Haniya, the militant Islamist group’s supreme leader, is in Qatar and travels frequently in the region.
Sharp criticism from Israel
Israeli President Itzchak Herzog rejected the request for an arrest warrant against Netanyahu and Gallant as “more than outrageous.” Any attempt to draw parallels between Hamas terrorists and the democratically elected government of Israel cannot be accepted.
“We will not forget who started this war and who raped, slaughtered, burned, abused and kidnapped innocent citizens and families,” Herzog said. “We expect all leaders of the free world to condemn and resolutely reject this move.”
Opposition politician Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet with Netanyahu and Gallant, sharply criticized Khan’s announcement and said Israel was struggling with one of the strictest moral codes. Israel also has a robust judiciary that is capable of investigating itself.
After the massacre committed by Hamas, the country is waging “one of the just wars in modern history.” “The prosecutor’s stance in seeking arrest warrants is itself a crime of historic proportions that will be remembered for generations to come,” Gantz said.
Israeli opposition leader Jair Lapid also reacts indignantly: “We cannot accept the outrageous comparison between Netanyahu and Sinwar, between the leaders of Israel and the leaders of Hamas,” he wrote on X.
Hamas feels it has been treated unfairly
Hamas, for its part, criticized the chief prosecutor’s requests for arrest warrants against its leaders. “His decision compares the victim to an executioner and encourages the (Israeli) occupation to continue the genocidal war,” said a statement carried by the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV channel.
The organization has the right to resist the Israeli occupation and this also includes armed resistance – according to the terrorist militia’s statement.
Sabrina Fritz, ARD Brussels, tagesschau, May 20, 2024 2:47 p.m