Türkiye, 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.
Türkiye hailed the arrest warrants, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling the move a “courageous step.”
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan described the warrants a good step towards “the realization of justice.”
The Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, includes 124 state parties that are legally bound to enforce its arrest warrants.
– ‘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.
“Its decisions are legally binding: there is no pick & choose,” he added.
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 world
Arab countries also welcomed the court’s arrest warrants.
The Iraqi government “values the courageous and just stance taken by the International Criminal Court in issuing arrest warrants against the head of the Zionist entity’s government and its former defense minister,” government spokesperson Basim al-Awadi said in a statement.
Jordan voiced support for the court’s decision, with Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi saying the verdict “must be respected and implemented without selectivity.”
Algeria described the warrants “an important step and a tangible advancement toward ending decades of impunity and the evasion of accountability and punishment by the Israeli occupation.”
– Rights groups
“The ICC arrest warrants against senior Israeli leaders and a Hamas official break through the perception that certain individuals are beyond the reach of the law,” the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement.
“These warrants should finally push the international community to address atrocities and secure justice for all victims in Palestine and Israel,” it added.
Stressing that Netanyahu has become a “wanted man,” Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard said: “ICC member states and the whole international community must stop at nothing until these individuals are brought to trial before the ICC’s independent and impartial judges.”
“There can be no ‘safe haven’ for those alleged to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Callamard added.