Turkish court issues arrest warrant against Netanyahu

Justice

Turkish court issues arrest warrant against Netanyahu

Erdogan has long accused Netanyahu of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. The Turkish judiciary is now issuing arrest warrants against 37 Israeli government representatives.

In the wake of the Gaza war, a court in Istanbul has issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and 36 other members of the government. They were accused of crimes against humanity and genocide by the General Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul, the state news agency Anadolu reported. The Attorney General’s Office justified the arrest warrants by saying that as a result of the “systematic genocide and crimes against humanity” that the State of Israel has committed in Gaza so far, thousands of people, including women and children, have lost their lives – thousands more have been injured and residential areas have been made uninhabitable.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly accused Netanyahu of a “genocide” in Gaza. He also maintains good relations with the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas. Turkey played a mediating role in the recent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Because of its harsh approach in the two-year Gaza war, in which tens of thousands of people were killed, Israel has repeatedly been accused of war crimes, and in some cases genocide. The Israeli government strictly rejects this accusation.

As early as November 2024, a panel of judges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes in the Gaza Strip. The USA and Israel do not recognize the ICC.

The 36 other government members against whom the Turkish judiciary issued arrest warrants include Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The arrest warrants were issued at the request of the Attorney General’s Office.