ICC prosecutor insists court can issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders
Representative photo for war in Gaza: Bloomberg
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Friday called on judges to rule “swiftly” on his request for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others involved in the war between Israel and Hamas, saying the court has jurisdiction.
It is settled case law that the court has jurisdiction in this situation, prosecutor Karim Khan wrote in a 49-page legal argument.
Khan called on a panel of ICC judges to make an urgent decision on requests he filed in May for arrest warrants against Netanyahu, his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders, two of whom have since been killed.
Khan’s petition follows legal arguments from dozens of countries, academics, victims’ groups and human rights organizations, which have either rejected or supported the court’s authority to issue arrest warrants as part of the investigation into the Gaza war and the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel.
In his request for arrest warrants in May, Khan accused Netanyahu, Gallant and three Hamas leaders Yehya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel.
Haniyeh and Deif have since been killed. Sinwar, the top Hamas official in Gaza who planned the October 7 attacks, was subsequently named the group’s new leader.
Netanyahu called the prosecutor’s accusations against him a disgrace and an attack on the Israeli military and all of Israel. He vowed to continue Israel’s war against Hamas. Hamas also condemned Khan’s actions, saying the call to arrest its leaders “equated the victim with the executioner.
Israel is not a member of the court, so even if the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant would not be at immediate risk of prosecution. But the threat of arrest could make it difficult for Israeli leaders to travel abroad.
The war began on Oct. 7, when Hamas and other militants stormed Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250. About 110 hostages remain in Gaza, a third of whom are presumed dead. The Israeli offensive launched in response has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the local Health Ministry, which did not say how many were militants or civilians.
Much of the legal arguments filed before the ICC judges in recent weeks have focused largely on whether the court’s authority to issue warrants for Israeli leaders is overridden by a provision of the 1993 Oslo peace deal. As part of the deal, the Palestinians agreed that they have no criminal jurisdiction over Israeli citizens.
Khan stressed that the argument that the agreements could nullify the court’s jurisdiction is baseless.
He said the legal argument was inconsistent with the correct interpretation and application of an article in the Rome Statute on which the Court based itself. He also failed to understand the basic concepts of jurisdiction under international law, including the law of occupation, and how these concepts relate to the interpretation and application of the Statute.
It is not yet clear when judges will rule on Khan’s request for a search warrant.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been edited by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First publication: Aug 24, 2024 | 07:53 AM IST