The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister

CNN
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The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and a senior Hamas official, accusing them of war crimes during and after the October 7 attacks on Israel last year.

In a statement Thursday, the Netherlands-based court said it found “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu bears criminal responsibility for war crimes, including “starvation as a method of warfare” and “crimes against humanity such as murder, persecution and other inhuman acts.”

The verdicts mark a historic first, making Netanyahu the first Israeli leader to be summoned by an international court for alleged actions against Palestinians in the 75-year conflict. While ICC warrants do not guarantee arrests, they could significantly limit Netanyahu’s ability to travel to ICC member states.

The Prime Minister’s Office dismissed the rulings as “absurd and anti-Semitic.”

“Israel completely rejects the absurd and false actions and accusations against it by the International Criminal Court, which is a politically biased and discriminatory body,” his office said, adding that “there is no more just war … after Hamas- the terrorist organization launched a murderous attack against it, which is carrying out the largest massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”

Netanyahu “will not give in to pressure, will not back down and will not back down until all the goals of the war that Israel set at the start of the campaign have been achieved,” it said.

Israel, like the United States, is not a member of the ICC and has challenged the court’s jurisdiction over its actions in the conflict – a challenge the court rejected on Thursday. The ICC asserts jurisdiction over territories Israel occupies, including Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank, following the Palestinian leadership’s formal agreement to be bound by the court’s founding principles in 2015.

The court on Thursday also issued a warrant for Hamas official Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, who Israel says was one of the masterminds behind the October 7 attack, which Israel said it killed in an airstrike in September , but Hamas has not confirmed his death.

The ICC said it found “reasonable grounds” to believe Deif was responsible for “crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, torture and rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as war crimes such as murder, cruel treatment, torture, hostage-taking, violation of personal dignity and rape and other forms of sexual violence.”

Deif bears “criminal responsibility” for these crimes, the court said, having “committed the acts jointly and through others … having ordered or caused the commission of the crimes” and for failing to “exercise proper control over forces under his effective command and control.”

The court added that there are “reasonable grounds to believe that the crimes against humanity were part of a widespread and systematic attack directed by Hamas and other armed groups against the civilian population of Israel.”

A number of Israeli politicians condemned the court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.

President Isaac Herzog described the rulings as “a dark day for justice. A dark day for humanity.”

He said in one declaration the X that “the monstrous decision of the ICC has turned universal justice into a universal ridicule. It makes a mockery of the sacrifice of all those who fight for justice.”

He added that the resolution “ignores the fundamental fact that Israel was barbarically attacked and has the duty and right to defend its people. It ignores the fact that Israel is a living democracy that acts under international humanitarian law and goes to great lengths to to cover the humanitarian needs of the civilian population.”

The recently appointed Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar, said that the ICC acted as a political tool that serves the most extreme elements working to undermine peace, security and stability in the Middle East.”

“From an ethical perspective, this is a moral aberration that turns good into evil and serves the forces of evil,” he said. “From a diplomatic perspective, issuing orders against a country that acts in accordance with international law is a reward and encouragement to the axis of evil (in Iran-led groups) that openly and consistently violates it.”

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir condemned the ICC as “anti-Semitic from start to finish,” adding that Israel should respond by “exerting sovereignty” in the occupied West Bank and building Jewish settlements in all areas under Israeli control.

Gallant served as defense minister until this month, when Netanyahu fired him after months of clashes over domestic policy and Israel’s war effort. The prime minister said at the time that “the trust between me and the defense minister is broken.” Katz, who until then served as foreign minister, became defense minister.

Eliav Lieblich, a professor of international law at Tel Aviv University, described the ICC’s decision as “the most dramatic legal development in Israel’s history.”

“The immediate implication is that the 124 states parties to the ICC, which include most of Israel’s closest allies, would be legally bound to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant if they were to be present in their territories,” Lieblich told CNN.

There could also be broader implications, he added, which “could limit the ability of third parties to cooperate with” the Israeli military.

After an arrest warrant has been issued, the ICC sends requests for cooperation to the member states. The court does not have its own police force to make the arrests, but relies on member states to enforce them, which state parties are legally obliged to do.

Former leaders who have faced ICC arrest warrants have experienced restrictions on their ability to travel, unable to pass through countries legally bound to arrest them.

This is a developing story and will be updated.