BREAKING: ICC Issues Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant “for crimes against humanity and war crimes,” it said in a press release on Thursday.

The ICC's Pretrial Chamber I, a panel of judges, "found reasonable grounds to believe" that they “each bear criminal responsibility” for:

• “intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population”

• “murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”

• “starvation as a method of warfare”

“The Chamber also found that the alleged crimes against humanity were part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza...”

“The arrest warrants are classified as ‘secret’, in order to protect witnesses and to safeguard the conduct of the investigations. However, the Chamber decided to release the information... since conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant of arrest appears to be ongoing....”

The warrants put Netanyahu and Gallant at risk of arrest if they travel abroad,” reports The Guardian — specifically “to any country that had signed the 1998 Rome statute.”

“The world just got a LOT smaller for Israeli war criminals,” said Euro-Med Monitor's Muhammad Shehada on X, attaching a map that shows the 125 state parties to the Rome Statute.

“At long last, ICC arrest warrants have been issued for Netanyahu and Gallant for crimes against humanity,” human rights attorney Craig Mokiber wrote on X. “All states must now cooperate in their arrest. The western-built wall of impunity constructed around this genocidal apartheid regime is crumbling. We must all now work together to ensure that justice is done.”

“Europe must comply,” said Belgium's Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter. “Impose economic sanctions, suspend the Association Agreement with Israel and uphold these arrest warrants.”

UK Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn, former leader of the Labour Party, called the arrest warrants “long overdue,” adding: “The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary must immediately endorse this decision. That is the bare minimum. Will the UK government now, finally, honour its international obligations to prevent genocide and end all arms sales to Israel?”

Ireland’s department of foreign affairs issued a statement reiterating that the country is a “strong supporter of the ICC” and calling on “all States to respect its independence and impartiality, with no attempts made to undermine the court.”

Meanwhile, as noted by journalist

Sam Husseini

, the US State Department canceled Thursday’s press briefing shortly after the arrest warrants were announced:

“[The] ICC arrest warrants make the Biden admin’s [four] vetoes at the Security Council, its lies about assurances that Israel was allowing access to aid, its efforts to squash Senate effort to stem weapons flows, its violation of 620i of the Foreign Assistance Act more damning,” commented human rights attorney Noura Erakat.

“We urge every government to work for Netanyahu’s arrest and extradition to The Hague in the Netherlands, and urge people everywhere to perform a citizen’s arrest of Netanyahu wherever he can be found, including in Washington D.C.,” reads an online petition by Roots Action.

The arrest warrants come in the wake of months and years of extensive criticism of the ICC and its chief prosecutor Karim Khan for dragging their feet as Israel’s genocide has continued.

Emeritus international law professor John Quigley and other legal scholars “have long criticized the ICC for refusing to act on Israel as it prosecuted several African leaders and issued arrest warrants for Putin,” noted Sam Husseini on Thursday morning. As an example, he cited a news release from all the way back in 2014 documenting how the ICC “falsified its jurisdiction to avoid taking action.”

This is a breaking news story which may be updated.

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