France “takes note” of the arrest warrants issued on Thursday by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and the head of Hamas’s armed wing, Mohammed Deif , declared this Friday, November 22. , the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Faithful to its long-standing commitment to supporting international justice,” Paris “recalls its commitment to the independent work of the Court,” it underlines in a statement, without explicitly specifying whether France, which is one of the 124 member states of the ICC , he would arrest them if these people went to his territory.
Outrage from certain countries
These arrest warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity sparked outrage in Israel and provoked a wave of contrasting reactions in Europe. US President Joe Biden denounced a “scandalous” decision.
Regarding the situation in Gaza, France “has always demanded strict respect for international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians since the beginning of the conflict” and “condemned its violations,” recalls the spokesman for French diplomacy, Christophe Lemoine. .
Paris also “condemned and continues to condemn in the strongest terms the anti-Semitic terrorist attacks committed on October 7 by Hamas and other terrorist groups” and “recalls that there is no possible equivalence between Hamas, a terrorist group, and Israel, a democratic country “. State,” he argues.
The divided political class
“There is clearly a desire to humiliate Israel with this decision,” lamented the vice-president of the National Rally, Sébastien Chenu, on franceinfo on Friday, asking France, before the publication of the Quai d’Orsay press release, to “testify this friendship.” country their support with a little more energy.
“Everything that hinders a political solution is not necessarily welcome at the moment,” added Macronist deputy Sylvain Maillard on the same channel, while, on the right, Philippe Juvin questioned the legitimacy of the ICC. “Who does not see the worrying drift of international institutions that make the fight against Israel a common point for all these people who, deep down, do not exercise democracy in their own country?” questioned the deputy on Radio Sud.
On the contrary, the left welcomed this arrest warrant. “The ICC’s decision against Netanyahu and Gallant is the indisputable consequence of its strategy of annihilation, which is still underway,” said the head of the environmentalists Marine Tondelier in X. For Olivier Faure, head of the PS, “this decision must lead Western countries to immediately halt all shipments of weapons used in Gaza.
“Netanyahu is a war criminal who is now actively sought,” greeted the leader of the rebel deputies Mathilde Panot on the same social network, while the coordinator of the LFI, Manuel Bompard, considered that France must “come out of its denial and finally act to end the genocide in Gaza.
Source: BFM TV
