Israel will appeal against the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.
Judges last week issued warrants for the two men along with Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, saying there were reasonable grounds to believe the three men bore criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel’s government, along with Netanyahu and Gallant, strongly rejected the accusations.
On Wednesday, the prime minister’s office said it had informed the ICC of its “intention to appeal to the court along with a demand to delay implementation of the arrest warrants”.
It reiterated that Israel both denied the authority of the ICC and the legitimacy of the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.
Netanyahu’s office also said US Senator Lindsey Graham had updated Netanyahu “on the efforts that he is advancing in the US Congress against the ICC and countries that have co-operated with it”.
US President Joe Biden called the warrants “outrageous” last week.
“Whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security,” he said.
ICC member states – which do not include Israel or the US – are obliged to take action in detaining a wanted defendant if they are found to be in their jurisdiction.
Some European Union countries have indicated that they will respect the ICC’s decision, while others have declined to say what they would do if Netanyahu entered their territory.
The British government has indicated that Netanyahu would face arrest if he travelled to the UK.
France’s prime minister said last week that it would “rigorously” comply with its obligations under international law.
But on Wednesday the French foreign ministry said that the Israeli leader may have immunity from arrest under the ICC warrant because Israel is not an ICC member state.
“Such immunities apply to Prime Minister Netanyahu and the other ministers concerned and will have to be taken into account should the ICC request of us their arrest and surrender,” a statement said.
It expressed this view the day after a ceasefire deal was announced to end the war between Israel and Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon. France and the US had been instrumental in negotiating the agreement.
Rights groups criticised France’s statement as a response to political pressure to maintain good relations with Israel.
“No-one gets immunity from an ICC arrest warrant because they’re in office – not Netanyahu, not Putin, no-one,” said Andrew Stroehlein from Human Rights Watch.
The ICC prosecutor’s case against Netanyahu, Gallant and Deif stems from 7 October 2023, when Hamas gunmen attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.
Israel responded by launching a military campaign to eliminate Hamas, during which at least 44,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The ICC judges said they found reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore criminal responsibility for:
- The war crime of starvation as a method of warfare
- The crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts
Netanyahu said the ICC’s decision was a “dark day in the history of humanity” and “an antisemitic step that has one goal – to deter me, to deter us from having our natural right to defend ourselves against enemies who try to destroy us”.
Gallant said the warrants placed “the State of Israel and the murderous leaders of Hamas in the same row and thus legitimises the murder of babies, the rape of women and the abduction of the elderly from their beds”.
The ICC judges said they found reasonable grounds to believe Deif was responsible for:
- The crimes against humanity of murder; extermination; torture; and rape and other form of sexual violence
- The war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture; taking hostages; outrages upon personal dignity; and rape and other form of sexual violence
Israel believes it killed Deif in an air strike in Gaza in July, but the ICC prosecution said it was not in a position to confirm that.
Hamas made no mention of the warrant for Deif but welcomed the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, saying the ICC’s decision “constitutes an important historical precedent.
The ICC – established in 2002 – investigates, arrests and tries individuals charged with the gravest international crimes: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression.
It has more than 120 members. However, key powers including the US, China, Russia and India are not members, having never signed or ratified its founding treaty, the Rome Statute.
