Netanyahu: ICC arrest warrants would be an ‘outrage of historic proportions,’ fuel worldwide antisemitism
Rather than preventing horrors, ICC prevents Israel from defeating genocidal terrorists
“You have to hear this to believe this. The International Criminal Court in The Hague is contemplating issuing arrest warrants against senior Israeli government and military officials as war criminals,” began Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a strongly-worded video statement on Tuesday
In his public address, Netanyahu blasted the World Court for its consideration of issuing arrest warrants against Israeli officials, including himself, as part of an ongoing investigation into Israel’s conduct during the war against Palestinian terrorists in Gaza.
“This would be an outrage of historic proportions,” Netanyahu charged.
International bodies like the ICC were created after World War II to prevent the reoccurrence of horrors and future genocides after the Holocaust, the prime minister said.
“Yet, now the International Court is trying to put Israel in the dock. It’s trying to put us in the dock as we defend ourselves against genocidal terrorists and regimes, Iran of course, that openly works to destroy the one and only Jewish state,” he said.
Pointing to the partly violent, anti-Israel and antisemitic protests across university campuses in the U.S., Netanyahu said arrest warrants issued by the ICC would effectively brand Israeli leaders as war criminals.
This, he added, “will pour jet fuel on the fires of antisemitism, those fires that are already raging on the campuses of America and across capitals around the world.”
Israel is currently undertaking a concerted effort on multiple fronts to combat the ICC’s plans, including action by the Prime Minister’s Office, the National Security Council and the Foreign Ministry.
Netanyahu also asked U.S. President Joe Biden for assistance during a phone call on Sunday, the Axios news outlet reported.
“Rather than commend Israel for abiding by the rules of war while fighting an enemy that violates every rule of war, including holding 133 Israeli men, women and children hostage, who’s the ICC targeting? The democracy called Israel,” Netanyahu continued during his public appeal.
This threatens the inherent right of all democracies to defend themselves against terrorism and aggression, the prime minister noted, especially because the ICC does not officially have jurisdiction over Israel.
A similar point was made by U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who warned: “The ICC could create and assume unprecedented power to issue arrest warrants against American political leaders, American diplomats, and American military personnel, thereby endangering our country’s sovereign authority.”
Branding the ICC’s plans a “grave threat to our very existence,” Netanyahu closed by asserting: “No ICC action will impact Israel’s iron-clad determination to achieve the goals of our war with Hamas terrorists: We will destroy Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in Gaza, we will release all our hostages, and we will ensure that Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again.”
“Six months after the terrible Hamas massacre of October 7, 80 years after the horrors of the Holocaust, the Jewish state calls on decent people everywhere to reject this outrage by the ICC, to stand with Israel as we fight the barbarians of Hamas and Iran, and as we work to secure a more peaceful world.”
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The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
