Israeli authorities fear that the International Criminal Court (ICC) will issue arrest warrants this week against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Army Chief Herzi Halevi, reported yesterday Haaretz. At issue will be war crimes committed in Gaza.
According to the Israeli newspaper, both the Ministry of Justice and Army lawyers are trying to prevent this from happening. Like Netanyahu, the Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dremes, and countries friendly to Israel, such as the United States, are trying to convince the ICC Attorney General, Karim Khan, to delay or even prevent the issuance of these warrants. Last week, Israeli media outlets had already reported that Netanyahu’s cabinet had held an emergency meeting due to this possibility. If this scenario is confirmed, it will be the first time that the ICC has issued warrants against Israeli officials.
Israel, like other countries such as the United States, Russia or Iran, does not recognize the authority of the ICC, but the 124 countries that do recognize it would be obliged to arrest those targeted, if they enter their territory, and hand them over to the court in The Hague, which does not have the means to carry out arrests. It should also be remembered that the Palestinian territories have been considered members of the ICC since 2015.
In response to this news, Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Sunday warned Israeli embassies to reinforce security due to the risk of a “wave of severe anti-Semitism”. “We hope the court will refrain from issuing arrest warrants against senior Israeli political and security officials,” Katz said, warning that “we will not hang our heads or be deterred and will continue to fight.”
On Friday, Netanyahu had already guaranteed that his government will “never” accept the authority of the International Criminal Court, stressing that “the threat against IDF soldiers [Forças de Defesa de Israel] and the public figures of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East and the only Jewish state in the world, are scandalous.”
Netanyahu noted that while none of the ICC rulings will affect Israel’s actions, “they will create a dangerous precedent that threatens the soldiers and public figures of all democracies fighting criminal terrorism and dangerous aggression.”
But the truth is that the ICC’s decisions can actually affect Israel. “These warrants will place Israel in the group of countries considered transgressors of international law, and would be on top of all other cases against Israel,” he said. Haaretz former Deputy Attorney General Roy Schondorf, adding that issuing arrest warrants could lead to other measures being taken against Tel Aviv, such as an arms embargo or the application of economic sanctions.
Matthew Gillet, professor of International Law at the University of Essex (England), reminded Reuters that, in addition to the possibility of arrest in the 124 member countries of the ICC, if the issuance of arrest warrants is confirmed, some allies may also take measures such as reducing diplomatic visits, increasing Tel Aviv’s international isolation, which would make it “more difficult for Western liberal democracies to engage with Israel.”
For Eliav Lieblich, professor of Law at Tel Aviv University, the belligerent statements of many Israeli politicians have not helped the country’s good image in the international community. And he gives examples: Minister Israel Katz demanded that the water supply in Gaza be cut off because “that’s what child killers deserve” and Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Amichai Chikli, said that the dropping of a nuclear bomb on Gaza was “an option” because Israel “must find ways to cause suffering in Gaza”.
Statements like these, along with the images of destruction on the ground and the high number of civilian deaths, lead the international community to question whether or not Israel is intentionally attacking civilians, he also said. Haaretz Lieblich, who also highlights the existence of a feeling that the Army’s high command does not fully control the forces on the ground. “Almost every day videos appear online in which soldiers are documenting inappropriate conduct. This leads to discrediting the officers’ statements about the IDF acting in accordance with the laws of war”, says the academic.
