Israel says it has challenged the ICC's request for an arrest warrant against Netanyahu
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- Israel says it has challenged the ICC's request for an arrest warrant against Netanyahu
Israel has filed an official protest against the request of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Guardian reported on September 20 that.
"The State of Israel filed an official protest today against the jurisdiction of the ICC, as well as the legality of the prosecutor's requests for arrest warrants for Israel's prime minister and defense minister," Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said.
The newspaper recalled that in May, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan asked the court to issue arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant in connection with alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.
It is noted that Khan also requested arrest warrants for the main Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
However, in an ICC statement issued in September, the prosecutor withdrew the request against Haniyeh on August 2 "due to changed circumstances caused by Mr. Haniyeh's death" in Tehran.
According to The Guardian, the court is still considering Khan's application for an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Galant.
Earlier on August 24, the ICC prosecutor asked the judges to urgently decide on arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galant, the country's defense minister. ICC prosecutors say there are reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant, as well as Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and the movement's military chief Mohammed Diab al-Masri (Deif), are criminally responsible for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
On July 19, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the UN International Court of Justice's finding that the country's settlement activity in the West Bank was annexation.
On the same day, the UN International Court of Justice found Israel's settlement activity in the Palestinian territories to be a violation of international law and called it an annexation of the Palestinian territories.
On May 20, the ICC prosecutor issued a statement demanding an arrest warrant for Netanyahu. The court accuses him of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity on Palestinian territory since October 8, 2023. The ICC also intends to seek arrest warrants for leaders of the Palestinian Hamas movement.
US President Joe Biden was angered by the demand against the Israeli authorities. United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken indicated that the ICC decision was "unhelpful and has the potential to jeopardize efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement" and release hostages. On June 27, the ICC postponed its decision to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galant.
The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian radical movement Hamas launched a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel, as well as invading border areas in the south and taking hostages. Israel began retaliatory strikes the same day.
The Palestinians are trying to ensure that future borders between the two countries follow the lines that existed before the 1967 Six-Day War, with possible land swaps. Palestine wants to establish its own state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel refuses to return to the 1967 borders and divide Jerusalem.
