International Criminal Court wants to arrest Israel PM

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is pursuing arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the October 7 attacks on Israel and the ensuing conflict in Gaza. The announcement came from ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday.

Additionally, the ICC is seeking warrants for Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and two senior Hamas leaders: Mohammed Deif, commander of the Al Qassem Brigades, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader. The charges against Sinwar, Haniyeh, and Deif include “extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape, and sexual assault in detention,” according to Khan.

This move marks the first instance of the ICC targeting the top leader of a close ally of the United States. Netanyahu now joins figures such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, both of whom faced ICC arrest warrants for alleged crimes against humanity.

The ICC’s decision to simultaneously pursue warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders may draw criticism for equating a terrorist organization with an elected government.

Netanyahu has vehemently opposed the ICC’s actions, calling potential arrest warrants against Israeli officials an “outrage of historic proportions” and asserting that Israel has a robust legal system to investigate such allegations independently.

Despite Israel and the United States not being members of the ICC, the court claims jurisdiction over Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank, following Palestinian leaders’ acceptance of the ICC’s founding principles in 2015. The application for these arrest warrants will now be reviewed by a panel of ICC judges.

This announcement is separate from an ongoing case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where South Africa has accused Israel of committing genocide in its conflict with Hamas post-October 7. Unlike the ICJ, which handles cases involving states, the ICC prosecutes individuals for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

This is not the ICC’s first action regarding Israel; in March 2021, it launched an investigation into potential crimes in the Palestinian territories since June 2014. The ICC, headquartered in The Hague, operates independently under the Rome Statute, a treaty endorsed by 124 countries, though notable exceptions include Israel, the US, and Russia.

Under the Rome Statute, member states must fully cooperate with the ICC’s decisions, potentially complicating international travel for Netanyahu and Gallant, particularly to allied countries like Germany and the United Kingdom.