By Jake Johnson
Common Dreams
and Consortium News
After months of deliberation, the International Criminal Court on Thursday formally issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri.
The ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I, a panel of judges, said in a statement that it unanimously rejected Israel’s challenges to arrest warrant applications submitted in May by Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor at the ICC. The court said:
“The Chamber issued warrants of arrest for two individuals, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr. Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest [for] the the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare [and] the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”
The announcement came as the official death toll from Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip surpassed 44,000.
The ICC judges said they “found reasonable grounds to believe” that Netanyahu and Gallant “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”
The panel also said it “found reasonable grounds to believe that no clear military need or other justification under international humanitarian law could be identified for the restrictions placed on access for humanitarian relief operations.”
“Finally, the Chamber assessed that there are reasonable grounds to believe 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,” the judges added.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin with Netanyahu and Gallant in Tel Aviv on Oct. 13, 2023. (DoD, Chad J. McNeeley, CC BY 2.0)
[In a series of tweets, Netanyahu’s office responded:
“The antisemitic decision of the International Criminal Court is a modern Dreyfus trial – and will end the same way. Israel utterly rejects the false and absurd charges of the International Criminal Court, a biased and discriminatory political body.
The decision to issue an arrest warrant against the Prime Minister was made by a corrupt chief prosecutor who is trying to save himself from sexual harassment accusations and biased judges who are motivated by antisemitic hatred of Israel.”
Hamas political bureau member Basem Naim said in a statement that the arrest warrant
“constitutes an important historical precedent, and a correction to a long path of historical injustice against our people … [It is] an important step towards justice and can lead to redress for the victims in general, but it remains limited and symbolic if it is not supported by all means by all countries around the world.”
The BBC quoted a White House National Security Council spokesperson as saying the U.S. “fundamentally rejects” the court’s decision.
“We remain deeply concerned by the prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision. The United States has been clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter. In co-ordination with partners, including Israel, we are discussing next steps.”
U.S. Representative Mike Waltz, who has been chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to be his national security advisor wrote on X:
“The ICC has no credibility and these allegations have been refuted by the U.S. government. Israel has lawfully defended its people & borders from genocidal terrorists. You can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC & UN come January.”
But EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the arrest warrants were “not a political decision.” He said: “The decision of the court has to be respected and implemented.” That would mean Netanyahu should be arrested if he travels to the EU.
Human Rights Watch said the warrants “break through the perception that certain individuals are beyond the reach of the law. Whether the ICC can effectively deliver on its mandate will depend on governments’ willingness to support justice no matter where abuses are committed and by whom,” the BBC reported.
Meanwhile, the International Court of Justice continues its case against Israel, which it has accused of committing genocide. ]
Hamas Too
The ICC panel issued a separate statement announcing an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, saying it found “reasonable grounds to believe” he is “responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder; extermination; torture; and rape and other form of sexual violence; as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture; taking hostages; outrages upon personal dignity; and rape and other forms of sexual violence.”
Neither the U.S. nor Israel recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction, and the decision is expected to spark backlash from both countries.
Over the summer, in response to Khan’s May application for arrest warrants, the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would impose sanctions on the ICC. More than 40 House Democrats supported the measure, which has not received a vote in the narrowly Democratic Senate.
U.K. Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn, the former leader of the Labour Party, called the ICC arrest warrants “long overdue” and urged the government of Keir Starmer to “immediately endorse this decision.”
“That is the bare minimum,” Corbyn wrote on social media. “Will the U.K. government now, finally, honor its international obligations to prevent genocide and end all arms sales to Israel?”
Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.