Arrest warrants against Hamas leader Al-Masri and Netanyahu

“Dark day for humanity”

Israel reacts angrily to arrest warrant against Netanyahu

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu. There is great outrage – not just in Israel.

The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Arrest warrants were also issued against the leader of the radical Islamic group Hamas, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri (also known as Mohammed Deif), and former Israeli defense minister Joav Galant, the court announced on Thursday.

The judges in The Hague agreed to a request from chief prosecutor Karim Khan in May. According to the statement from May, the prosecutor accuses the Hamas leader of, among other things, “extermination” as well as murder, hostage-taking, rape and torture as crimes against humanity.

Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Galant are accused of being responsible for starving civilians as a method of warfare. The court has no ability to execute arrest warrants. Nevertheless, the freedom of movement of the wanted people is severely restricted: all contracting states to the court are obliged to arrest the wanted people and hand them over to the court as soon as they are in their country.

• Arrest warrant against Netanyahu and Galant: Will Netanyahu be arrested now?

EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell has described the arrest warrant against Netanyahu as binding for the EU member states. As contracting states to the International Criminal Court, the EU countries are obliged to implement the arrest warrants issued. The foreign representative emphasized that it was not a political decision, but a court decision. “The Court’s decision must be respected and implemented,” said the Spaniard.

Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu has described the arrest warrants against himself and Galant as “anti-Semitic decisions”. They were hit by “biased judges driven by anti-Semitic hatred against Israel,” said a statement from Netanyahu’s office.

Israel’s President Izchak Herzog also reacted to the issuance of the arrest warrants with outrage and sharp criticism. “This is a dark day for justice. A dark day for humanity,” Herzog wrote on X. He spoke of a scandalous decision that the court made with bad intentions. Israel has never acceded to the Rome Statute of the Criminal Court and does not recognize the court.

Israel’s right-wing police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has spoken out in favor of a complete annexation of the occupied West Bank. This is the appropriate response to the international arrest warrants. The court was “thoroughly anti-Semitic,” Ben-Gvir wrote on X.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany sharply criticized the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Galant. “This arrest warrant against a prime minister of a democratic state and his former defense minister is an absurdity,” said Central Council President Josef Schuster in Berlin. “After the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, Israel is defending itself against Islamist terror in Gaza and Lebanon. Putting Israel on the same level as Hamas borders on audacity. The Federal Government must not accept this perpetrator-victim reversal,” continues Schuster.

The federal government has not yet commented on the issuing of arrest warrants against the Israeli politicians. According to a Foreign Ministry spokesman, the French government does not yet want to decide whether it would arrest Netanyahu. The question is legally complicated. The spokesman said he did not want to comment on this yet.

In the Hamas attacks in the Israeli border area on October 7, 2023, around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 hostages were kidnapped into the Gaza Strip. The attacks triggered Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has so far killed more than 40,000 people, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority.