Key events
Haroon Siddique
Why did ICC issue Netanyahu arrest warrant and what are the implications?
Benjamin Netanyahu has become the first leader of a “western-style” democracy to have an arrest warrant issued in his name by the international criminal court. The court has also issued warrants for his former defence secretary, Yoav Gallant, and the Hamas military leader, Mohammed Deif.
Here the Guardian explains why the warrants have been issued and what they mean in practice.
On what grounds have the warrants been issued?
The warrants relate to the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and the Israeli military response in Gaza.
The ICC’s three-judge panel said it had found reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant “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”.
What are the practical implications for Netanyahu and Gallant?
The ICC relies on 124 member states of the Rome statute, which established the court, to execute arrest warrants. Member states are obliged to arrest individuals wanted by the ICC who set foot on their territory and, while they do not always do so, it means that the accused will have to consider whether they are willing to risk travelling.
How does the ICC have jurisdiction over Israel when it isn’t a member?
The ICC has jurisdiction for both alleged crimes committed by a national of a member country and alleged crimes committed in the territory of a member state. Palestine acceded to the Rome statute in 2015, and the ICC ruled in 2021 that it was a state, thereby extending the court’s jurisdiction to territories occupied by Israel since 1967 – Gaza and the West Bank including East Jerusalem.
Read more by the Guardian’s legal affairs correspondent, Haroon Siddique here.
Opening Summary
The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, has said he will invite his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to visit, in defiance of an ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu’s alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war.
The Hague-based court on Thursday issued warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif “for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024”.
It is the first time that leaders of a democracy and western-aligned state have been charged by the court, in the most momentous decision of its 22-year history. Netanyahu and Gallant are at risk of arrest if they travel to any of the 124 countries that signed the Rome statute establishing the court.
In his weekly interview with state radio, Orban called the ICC’s decision, “outrageously brazen” and “cynical”, saying it “intervenes in an ongoing conflict… dressed up as a legal decision, but in fact for political purposes”.
“There is no choice here, we have to defy this decision,” Orban said.
Hungary signed the Rome Statute, the international treaty that created the ICC, in 1999 and ratified it two years later during Orban’s first term in office. However, Budapest has not promulgated the associated convention for reasons of constitutionality and therefore asserts that it is not obliged to comply with ICC decisions.
“Later today, I will invite the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Netanyahu, to visit Hungary, where I will guarantee him, if he comes, that the judgment of the International Criminal Court will have no effect in Hungary, and that we will not follow its terms,” he added.
