Will Benjamin Netanyahu appear before the International Criminal Court (ICC)? This Thursday, November 21, an arrest warrant was issued against the Israeli prime minister for “crimes against humanity and war crimes committed at least since October 8, 2023.” Yoav Gallant, Defense Minister of the Jewish State until his dismissal in early November, is also the subject of an arrest warrant.
The Israeli leader denounced the ICC’s decision to compare the issued arrest warrants to a new “Dreyfus trial” and call the court “anti-Semitic.”
Putin, the subject of an arrest warrant, was not arrested
The issuance of this arrest warrant limits Benjamin Netanyahu’s travel abroad and, in particular, to the 125 signatory States of the Rome Statute that created this body. In theory, these states are obligated to arrest you if you enter their territory.
“States parties to the Rome Statute have the obligation to cooperate fully with the ICC and to provide in their national legislation for procedures allowing the execution of all requests for cooperation,” the Court writes on its website.
But this does not mean that the Israeli leader will appear before this Court. First obstacle: Israel has not ratified the Rome Statute, so the country is not obliged to cooperate with the Court. The United States, a vital ally for the Jewish state, has also not ratified the Rome Statute.
Some States signatories to the Treaty of Rome have in the past been able to ignore their obligations. In early September, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Mongolia, a signatory to the Treaty of Rome, without being detained. However, the Russian leader is also the subject of an arrest warrant. Vladimir Putin is accused of being “responsible for the war crime of illegal deportation of the population (children) and illegal transfer of the population (children) from the occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.” But in addition to this trip, the Russian president has severely restricted his foreign travel since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In 2015, South Africa refused to arrest the former Sudanese president on its territory. Omar al-Bashirlater prosecuted for genocide. “The Court does not have its own execution mechanism and it is not unusual for States not to respond to requests for the execution of arrest warrants,” the ICC admits.
“Only states have the power to execute arrest warrants”
As the judicial body itself emphasizes, which recognizes “difficulties”, “only States have the competence to execute arrest warrants. The support of States, whether diplomatic or operational, is essential.”
For his part, the prosecutor of the international organization Karim Khan called this Thursday on the signatories of the Rome Statute to “respect their commitments (…) and comply with these court orders.” Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said Thursday afternoon that Italy would be forced to arrest the Israeli leader if he visited the country.
The Hague, Netherlands-based body also issued an arrest warrant for Mohammed Deif, the architect of the Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023. The IDF claims that this Hamas executive was killed in July, but the Court found “we will not be able to determine whether Mr. Deif was murdered or is still alive.”
Source: BFM TV
