The International Criminal Court (ICC) dropped a legal bombshell Thursday when it issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ex-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
The court said in a statement that Netanyahu and Gallant “each bear criminal responsibility” for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts,” as well as “intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.”
Israel has been carrying out its war in the Gaza Strip for more than a year, killing tens of thousands of people as it attempts to root out Hamas in response to the Palestinian militant group’s attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
Netanyahu’s office described the charges in a statement Thursday as “absurd and false lies” and said the judges who issued the warrant were “motivated by antisemitic hatred of Israel.”
United States President Joe Biden called the ruling “outrageous” and pledged to “always stand with Israel against threats to its security.” The U.S. is not a signatory to the ICC.
Theoretically, the ICC warrant means Netanyahu and Gallant could be arrested if they travel to any of the more than 120 countries that are parties to the court. But several governments in Europe have already signaled they may not arrest the Israeli leader if he steps foot on their soil.
When Russian President Vladimir Putin in September visited Mongolia, a party to the ICC, he was not arrested despite being the subject of an ICC warrant over the forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia.
These are the European countries that have vowed to handcuff Netanyahu — and the ones where he could still be welcome.
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