Update
“Moral Bankruptcy”
Israel outraged by request for arrest warrants
May 20, 2024, 2:59 p.m
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The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court has requested arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Members of his cabinet are beside themselves.
Israel is reacting sharply to the arrest warrants filed against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Joaw Gallant at the International Criminal Court. Foreign Minister Israel Katz spoke of a “scandalous decision.” This represents “a frontal, unrestrained attack on the victims of October 7th and our 128 hostages in Gaza.” This is itself “a crime of historic proportions,” said Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz. “Drawing parallels between the leaders of a democratic country determined to defend itself against despicable terror and the leaders of a bloodthirsty terrorist organization (Hamas) is a deep distortion of justice and a blatant moral bankruptcy,” he said.
Foreign Minister Katz continued: “While the murderers and rapists of Hamas are committing crimes against humanity against our brothers and sisters, the chief prosecutor in the same breath mentions our Prime Minister and Defense Minister, alongside the despicable Nazi monsters of Hamas – a historic disgrace for will always be remembered.” He ordered the immediate establishment of a situation center in the Foreign Ministry, where specialists would fight against the decision, the main aim of which was “to tie the hands of the State of Israel and deny it the right to self-defense.”
Israel wants to contact allies
Katz also announced that he would speak to the foreign ministers of leading states so that they could object to the chief prosecutor’s decision “and announce that even in the case of arrest warrants, they will not implement them against the leaders of the State of Israel.”
The right-wing extremist Israeli politician Bezalel Smotrich, who is responsible for finance and settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territories in the Netanyahu government, compared the proposal to Nazi propaganda and spoke of “hatred of Jews.”
The prosecutor had previously also requested an arrest warrant against Hamas leader Jahja Sinwar and two other officials of the radical Islamic organization in connection with the attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. A Hamas spokesman also criticized this decision. This would equate “victim and executioner”. The ICC investigating judges must decide whether there is enough evidence to issue arrest warrants.
The prosecutor accuses the Hamas leaders of, among other things, “extermination” as well as murder, hostage-taking, rape and torture as crimes against humanity. Sinwar and Deif are believed to have been hiding in Hamas’ underground tunnel system in the Gaza Strip since the start of the Gaza war more than seven months ago.