Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, could be served arrest warrants this week from the International Criminal Court on charges related to the country’s military campaign in Gaza.
Israeli and other foreign officials reportedly believe Hamas leaders face arrest warrants too.
The ICC has not confirmed its plans, but senior officials in the Israeli government are growing increasingly concerned that the warrants will be issued, according to multiple reports. Netanyahu, in particular, is “terrified and abnormally stressed,” per the Israeli newspaper Maariv.
The prime minister has reportedly been speaking frequently on the phone to prevent such an outcome, with the Biden administration among those with whom he has spoken. While President Joe Biden and Netanyahu have had their rifts, Biden has been steadfast in his support for Israel.
The ICC has been investigating Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, where about 1,200 people were killed and hundreds more were taken hostage. The organization has also been investigating Israel’s response in Gaza, where more than 30,000 Palestinians have died, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
On Friday, Netanyahu said any decision by the ICC would not affect Israel’s actions but could set a “dangerous precedent.”
“Under my leadership, Israel will never accept any attempt by the International Criminal Court in the Hague to undermine its basic right to defend itself,” he wrote in a Telegram post. “While decisions made by the court in the Hague will not affect Israel’s actions, they will set a dangerous precedent that threatens soldiers and public figures.”
Neither Israel nor the United States are members of the court, based in the Netherlands. The Palestinian territories were admitted in 2015. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF chief of staff Herzl Halevi are also believed to be possible targets of the arrest warrants.
Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) said that, due to the reports of the ICC preparing arrest warrants against Israeli officials, he is inviting the president and prosecutor of the court to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Mast is the chairman of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee on oversight and accountability.
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) responded to the reports by saying “The ICC’s abuse of power must be met with strong consequences from both Congress and the President.”
“Even though Hamas is the undeniable cause of the war in Gaza, the ICC might target Israel as though it were aggressor, as though Hamas had never committed October 7th,” he wrote on X. “The issuance of arrest warrants would represent the culmination of a long process of criminalizing the world’s only Jewish State. The weaponization of international law—in the service of terror—cannot be allowed to stand.”
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Israel has maintained its innocence over accusations of war crimes and has insisted that it is Hamas who is guilty of genocide.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has lasted over six months.
