Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 13
Anadolu Agency: The Arab world, most European countries as well as international rights groups have welcomed the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The ICC accused Netanyahu and Gallant of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.
The court said there are “reasonable grounds” to believe the two 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.”
Israel has killed more than 44,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, and caused widespread destruction and conditions of famine across the enclave.
‘Not political’
In Europe, the responses by leaders varied in tone and approach to implementation.
Josep Borrell, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, underscored the importance of adhering to the ICC’s decisions, saying the warrants are not politically motivated and should be respected and implemented.
He said the warrants are “judicial, not political” and have nothing to do with anti-Semitism, as Netanyahu had described them.
Spain’s Second Vice-President Yolando Diaz welcomed the ICC decision, saying Madrid sides with justice. “Always on the side of justice and international law,” Diaz said on X, adding: “The genocide of the Palestinian people cannot go unpunished.”
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also expressed respect for the ICC’s independence without confirming whether the UK would uphold the warrants.
A spokesperson for Keir Starmer, however, was quoted as saying that “the UK will always comply with its legal obligations as set out by domestic law and indeed international law.”
France also vowed to apply international law in this regard, as did Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands, among others.
Some nations, such as Austria, however, criticized the ICC’s decision. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he would invite Netanyahu, while Germany said it would continue to back Israel.
Arab countries also welcomed the court’s arrest warrants.
