The International Criminal Court (ICC) is seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity since October 7, ICC’s prosecutor Karim Khan announced.
The decision was made public in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on May 20.
The ICC is also targeting Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and two other senior Hamas leaders, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri who is better known as Mohammed Deif, and Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Unprecedented move against a US ally
The ICC issued warrants against Israeli leaders, marking the first time it pursued charges against high-ranking officials of a close U.S. The decision aligns Netanyahu with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who faced an ICC arrest warrant for Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who was subject to an ICC warrant for alleged crimes against humanity before his death in 2011.
The charges
Karim Khan outlined that the charges against Sinwar, Haniyeh, and al-Masri include “extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape and sexual assault in detention.”
“The world was shocked on the 7th of October when people were ripped from their bedrooms, from their homes, from the different kibbutzim in Israel,” Khan told the CNN reporter, adding that “people have suffered enormously.”
The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict,” Khan told Amanpour.
“These acts demand accountability,” Khan’s office also said in a statement.
‘Nobody is above the law’
“Nobody is above the law,” said Khan, adding that Israel could challenge the ICC’s jurisdiction if it disagrees with the charges.
While Israel and the United States are not ICC members, the court claims jurisdiction over Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank, following the Palestinian Authority’s acceptance of the ICC’s founding principles in 2015.
This is not the first ICC action concerning Israel. In March 2021, Khan’s office began investigating potential crimes in the Palestinian territories dating back to June 2014.
The recent development is distinct from another ongoing case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where South Africa accused Israel of genocide in its actions against Hamas.
Israeli leaders react with anger to ICC decision
Israeli ministers hit back at the ICC as it seeks arrest warrants for Netanyahu, as well as leaders of Hamas, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity since October 7. Netanyahu called the decision “a political outrage,” adding that “They will not deter us and we will continue in the war until the hostages are released and Hamas is destroyed.”
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog called the ICC decision “beyond outrageous.”
Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz said Israel is “waging one of the just wars” of history and maintains “one of the strictest moral codes … while complying with international law.”
The leader of the opposition, Yair Lapid, said the application for the arrest warrents was “a complete moral failure.” He added: “We cannot accept the outrageous comparison between Netanyahu and Sinwar … We will not remain silent.”
When reports emerged last month about the ICC chief prosecutor considering this action, Netanyahu stated that any ICC arrest warrants against senior Israeli government and military officials “would be an outrage of historic proportions.” He emphasized that Israel “has an independent legal system that rigorously investigates all violations of the law.”
Biden calls ICC arrest request ‘outrageous’
U.S. President Joe Biden has objected to the international criminal court chief prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for arrest warrants against prime minister Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials as “outrageous”.
“The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security,” the US president said in a statement.
The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement, calling the ICC chief prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “shameful”. In a statement, Blinken said: “The United States fundamentally rejects the announcement today from the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that he is applying for arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials, together with warrants for Hamas terrorists,” he said, adding that the “United States has been clear since well before the current conflict that that ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter.”
ICC and its members
International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan said that he made the decision to apply for five arrest warrants after receiving advice from a panel of eight legal and academic experts. They include Sir Adrian Fulford, a former ICC judge; Theodor Meron, former president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia; and human rights lawyer Amal Clooney.
The ICC, located in The Hague, Netherlands, operates under the Rome Statute treaty, with 124 member countries. Although key nations like Israel, the U.S., and Russia are not signatories, in case the ICC judges approve the arrest warrants, member countries would be obligated to arrest and extradite the accused individuals to The Hague.
The move could significantly restricted Netanyahu and Gallant’s international travel, potentially affecting their visits to allied nations such as Germany and the United Kingdom, which are ICC members. The court’s decisions must be respected by all Rome Statute signatories, emphasizing the global legal ramifications for those named in the warrants.