• 11 countries including 10 western & 9 NATO countries have said that they will be willing to arrest Israeli Prime minister Netanyahu if he were to step on their soil.
• The effect of the ICC arrest warrant is already being felt with the Dutch foreign minister postponing his visit to Israel.
Yesterday an arrest warrant was issued for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former minister of defence Yoav Gallant after months of investigations.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has claimed that there were reasonable grounds to believe that PM Netanyahu and Mr Gallant bear criminal responsibility for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare while also claiming that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population of Gaza.
In addition to the claims by intentionally limiting or preventing medical supplies and medicine from getting into Gaza, in particular, anaesthetics and anaesthesia machines, the two individual Israeli politicians are also responsible for inflicting great suffering by means of inhumane acts on persons in need of treatment.
Reaction to the arrest warrant
The ICC arrest warrant means that state parties who are members of the founding treaty of the ICC are legally obliged to cooperate with the court and therefore if Netanyahu or an individual who has an arrest warrant out there for them decides to go to one of these countries, it is obligatory upon member states to arrest them and hand them to the ICC.
Currently the ICC has more than 120 members, including many European countries. The few notable countries that have chosen not to be members of the ICC are the US, China, Russia, India and Israel. However it must be noted that Palestine is a member of the ICC and has been since April of 2015.
This gives the ICC automatic jurisdiction over crimes committed in Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem regardless of if they were committed by a non-member state.
UK
Downing Street backed the ICC on Thursday after it issued the arrest warrants, saying the Government respected the independence of the court.
Prime Minister Kier Starmer’s spokesperson said, “The UK will always comply with its legal obligations as set out by domestic law, and indeed international law”.
The ruling Labour chair of the foreign affairs committee Emily Thornbury said:
“If Netanyahu comes to Britain, our obligation under the Rome Convention would be to arrest him under the warrant from the ICC.
The decision has not impacted the UK’s continuous arms exports to Israel nor the transfer of intelligence to Israel.
Ireland
Asked by Irish national broadcaster RTE if Mr Netanyahu would be arrested in Ireland, Taoiseach Simon Harris, Irelands Prime Minister said on Friday:
“Yes, absolutely. We support international courts and we apply their warrants.”
France
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine called the arrest warrant a “complex legal issue” but said France supports the court’s actions.
“Combating impunity is our priority,” he said. “Our response will align with these principles.”
Germany
“The German government was involved in the drafting of the ICC statute and is one of the biggest supporters of the ICC – this attitude is also the result of German history,” the German spokesperson said.
However, the official opinion of Germany is not confirmed and Berlin has said it will not take further steps until a visit by Netanyahu to Germany is planned.
Belgium
Belgium’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it supported the work of the ICC, and that:
“Those responsible for crimes committed in Israel and Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of who committed them.”
Netherlands
The Netherlands hosts the International Criminal Court and has confirmed that the Netherlands would arrest Netanyahu if he were to arrive on dutch soil.
In Parliament the Dutch foreign minister said:
“The line from the government is clear. We are obliged to cooperate with the ICC … we abide 100% by the Rome Statute”.
Switzerland
Although neither a EU or NATO country, Switzerland is a member of the ICC and the Swiss Federal Office of Justice said it is obliged to cooperate with the ICC under the Rome Statute and would therefore have to arrest Mr Netanyahu, Mr Gallant or Masri if they entered Switzerland.
Sweden
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said Sweden and the EU “support the court’s important work and protect its independence and integrity”.
Canada
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said:
“It’s really important that everyone abide by international law”, adding the country would abide by rulings of international courts.
Italy
Defence Minister Guido Crosetto has said that Italy would have to arrest Netanyahu if he came to the country however Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani seemed to water down the statement by saying “We support the ICC … the court must play a legal role and not a political role”.
Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party has welcomed the arrest warrants, calling them a judgement made for the sake of “humanity.”
Slovenia
Slovenia, a nation that recently recognised the state of Palestine has also said they would arrest Netanyahu if he were to step into the country.
According to a government statement, Prime Minister Golob said Slovenia “will fully comply” with the ICC decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
The United States of America and it’s genocidal stance
The United States has expressed opposition to the ICC’s arrest warrants with president Biden claiming the arrest warrants are “outrageous”.
The White House has said it is “deeply concerned by the prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision.”
This comes only days after the US has vetoed a ceasefire vote in the UN calling for a ceasefire.
The United States is the main provider of support to Israel even with the genocide reaching a higher death rate since Rwanda and expanding into neighbouring Lebanon whosegovernment is technically considered an ally.
Opposition of the ICC warrants has come from all sides of the political spectrum in the United States.
During the height of the Ukraine war however, this reaction was a contrast as the United States welcomed the ICC decision to arrest Putin.
Will the US invade the ICC as they’ve threatened to in the past?
Passed in 2002, the American Service-Members’ Protection Act, often referred to as the “Hague Invasion Act,” was designed to shield US personnel from ICC persecution.
Rights groups argue the law aims to intimidate nations that support the ICC treaty.
The US Hague Invasion Act legalises the authorisation of military action to rescue any American or allied citizen held by the ICC
It must be remembered that even in more recent times, during the Trump presidency in 2020 that the US administration imposed asset freezes on the former ICC head while designating the ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, and the head of the Office of the Prosecutor’s Jurisdiction, Complementarity, and Cooperation Division, Phakiso Mochochoko for sanctions.
An arrest warrant for all Israelis?
One of the crimes Netanyahu and Gallant has been accused of by the ICC is the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare.
What the mainstream media and the ICC fail to mention is the opinions held by majority of Israelis.
According to The Israeli Democracy Institute, an Israeli based polling service, majority of Israelis have opposed humanitarian aid reaching Gaza, even if it were not provided by Hamas linked groups or UNWRA.
Regardless of opinions of minority individuals or individuals who only want the war to end for hostages’ sake, the majority still oppose basic aid from reaching the people of Gaza even when children are nearly half of the 2.1 million population.
If majority of Israelis deserved arrest as did Netanyahu and Gallant for being responsible for this and were locked away for their extreme opinions then it becomes known that not only is there more evidence that Israel is an extremist terror state rather even from a legal point of view, does not have the right to exist as Israel cannot survive with most of its population locked away.
