Israeli leaders from across the political spectrum united to condemn the decision by a three-judge panel of the international criminal court to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant.
Netanyahu’s office described the warrants as “an anti-Semitic decision.” Israel’s Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar called it an attack on Israel’s right to defend itself.
The opposition leader, Yair Lapid, described the warrants as a “reward for terrorism” whereas the National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir said that the ICC “once again demonstrates that it is antisemitic from beginning to end.”
Describing the response by Israeli politicians to the ICC decision, Dahlia Scheindlin, a political scientist, told a news agency that everything to do with international institutions tends to unite the opposition and coalition. “There is a widespread conviction in Israel that international institutions are antisemitic and hypocritical,” Scheindlin noted.
“It is early, but you would expect a show of unity, even if Netanyahu is not popular because Israelis see it as an attack on the state.”
Dahlia Scheindlin
Gideon Levy, a Columnist with Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, stated that Netanyahu and Gallant are “clever enough” to understand that the ICC arrest warrants issued against them are “very serious.”
However, he said that Israel is united in condemning the ICC “almost from wall to wall.”
“Very few in Israel are asking … how did we get to this point. Many Israelis don’t see anything wrong with the behaviour of Israel in Gaza.”
Gideon Levy
Levy expressed belief that Netanyahu’s popularity in Israel may increase in the coming days because he is now the “ultimate victim.” He said, “Now, it’s him against the whole world, and Israelis feel that he represents all of them.”
Michael Mansfield, an international human rights lawyer, said that Israel is an “unjust state that has never respected the rule of law.”
He said that Israel is trying to “deflect responsibility” and its objective has been to destroy Gaza and make it “uninhabitable.”
He stressed that Netanyahu will not end the war in Gaza until this objective is met.
Accusations Of ICC Bias Towards Israel Labelled Fairly Ridiculous
Meanwhile, Former ICC official, Eric Witte noted that judges, lawyers and staff at the court are highly professional and come from a multitude of countries so “the accusation that the court would be biased against any particular group of people is fairly ridiculous.”
However, he added that it is nothing new for the court.
Witte explained that when the court took action against the leadership of Kenya several years ago, it was accused of neocolonialism and anti-African bias.
When it brought charges against President Vladimir Putin of Russia, the response was that the ICC must be anti-Russian.
“Now we’re hearing baseless charges of anti-Semitism that are just thrown at the wall to try to smear and deflect from these very specific charges that have gone through a rigorous process.”
Eric Witte
Witte added that there is no doubt ICC officials will now be targeted after open threats by US senators and others.
Prosecutor Karim Khan urged ICC members as well as nonmembers to cooperate with the arrest warrants.
In a statement, he said that countries that belong to the court must “live up” to their commitments.
Khan also expressed concern over reports of escalating violence, further shrinking of humanitarian access and continued expansion of alleged international crimes in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The ICC relies on 124 member states of the Rome statute, which established the court, to execute arrest warrants.
Neither Israel nor its closest ally, the US, are members, nor are the possible venues for ceasefire talks, Qatar and Egypt, although that may be a moot point as neither Netanyahu nor Gallant have attended the talks.
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