Why has the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu – and will he be arrested? | EUROtoday

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged warfare crime through the battle in Gaza.

The battle in Gaza was trigged by an assault inside Israel by Hamas on 7 October 2023, throughout which round 1,200 Israelis have been killed, whereas one other 251 folks have been taken hostage. The ICC mentioned it had discovered cheap grounds to imagine that Deif was liable for crimes in opposition to humanity and warfare crimes together with homicide, torture, rape and hostage.

On Thursday, the ICC issued warrants for Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant accusing them of warfare crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity.

It additionally issued a warrant for Hamas chief Mohammed Deif, who Israel mentioned it had killed in an airstrike over the summer time, accusing him of warfare crimes over the assault on Israel.

Though the choice turns Mr Netanyahu into an internationally needed suspect, the extent of the warrant’s sensible implications are unclear given Israel and its main ally, the US, aren’t members of the court docket.

As the ICC points the arrest warrants, right here we clarify what they’re and what they imply for Mr Netanyahu:

What is an ICC arrest warrant?

The International Criminal Court in The Hague prosecutes these accused of warfare crimes, crimes in opposition to humanity, genocide and crimes of aggression (when a state utilizing armed pressure in opposition to the sovereignty of one other state). This jurisdiction is specified by the court docket’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute.

The technique of issuing an ICC arrest warrant begins with the chief prosecutor gathering proof and figuring out a suspect. They will then request the ICC judges to subject a warrant.

In Mr Netanyahu’s case, this was finished by the court docket’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, earlier this 12 months in May.

On Thursday, the three-judge panel issued a unanimous determination to subject the warrants, that means Netanyahu, Gallant and Deif are needed as a suspects to face trial within the Hague.

The ICC chief prosecutor withdrew his request for warrants for 2 different senior Hamas figures, Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, after they have been each killed within the battle.

Why has it been issued?

The ICC mentioned there have been “reasonable grounds” to imagine that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant “bear criminal responsibility for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare” and that they’d “intentionally and knowingly deprived” Gaza’s civilians of meals, water, drugs, medical provides and gasoline and electrical energy.

“The Chamber considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity,” the three-judge panel wrote in its unanimous determination.

Aid companies and the UN have been warning for months of an acute disaster throughout the Gaza Strip, with meals, water, energy and medical provides all in more and more quick provide.

Shortly after the warrant was issued, Mr Netanyahu condemned it saying Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions.”

In a press release launched by his workplace, he mentioned: “There is nothing more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza.”

Could Netanyahu be arrested?

The warrant means Netanyahu is now an internationally needed suspect and that the ICC’s 124 member states – together with the UK – can be obliged to arrest him or Gallant in the event that they have been to enter their territory.

However, the ICC itself has no police to implement warrants – of which Israel and its main ally, the US, aren’t members – which suggests neither are prone to face judges within the Hague any time quickly.

But the Netherlands’ overseas minister Caspar Veldkamp mentioned his nation was ready to behave upon the warrants, Dutch information company ANP reported, displaying that worldwide journey can be way more troublesome for each Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is needed on an ICC warrant for alleged warfare crimes in Ukraine, just lately confirmed he may nonetheless go to an ally when he travelled to Mongolia, one of many court docket’s member states, and was not arrested.

Politically, the transfer is a dramatic escalation of authorized proceedings and is prone to additional isolate Israel and complicate efforts to barter a ceasefire to finish the battle.

Can an ICC investigation or arrest warrant be paused?

The court docket’s guidelines permit for the UN Security Council to undertake a decision that will pause or defer an investigation or a prosecution for a 12 months, with the potential for renewing that yearly.

After a warrant is issued the nation concerned or an individual named in an arrest warrant may subject a problem to the jurisdiction of the court docket or the admissibility of the case.

A case will be deemed inadmissible on the ICC when it’s already being investigated or prosecuted by a state with jurisdiction over the crimes alleged.

But the court docket has made it clear up to now that this exemption may solely apply when a state is investigating or prosecuting the identical folks for considerably the identical alleged crimes. An investigation into corruption expenses, as an example, wouldn’t meet that “same person, same conduct” rule.

If there’s a request to delay the investigation, the prosecutor will pause the case and assessment if the state which requested the deferral is certainly finishing up a real investigation.

If the prosecutor deems the nationwide investigations are inadequate, he can apply for judges to reopen the investigation.

Could this warrant affect different instances?

Not immediately, however maybe not directly. The ICC utility is a separate matter from, for instance, court docket instances demanding an arms embargo in opposition to Israel or South Africa’s case on the UN’s prime court docket, the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of violating the Genocide Convention in Gaza. Israel denies these allegations.

However a choice by ICC judges that there are cheap grounds to imagine Mr Netanyahu and former defence minister Mr Gallant are committing warfare crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity in Gaza, it may strengthen South Africa’s ICJ case, as that court docket additionally appears at different courts’ determinations.

The determination to subject a warrant may bolster authorized challenges demanding an arms embargo elsewhere, as quite a few states have provisions in opposition to promoting arms to states which could use them in ways in which violate worldwide humanitarian legislation.

Reuters contributed to this report