Legal bombshell: International Court issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant

JERUSALEM – The International Criminal Court (ICC) took the unprecedented legal step Thursday of issuing arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. This is the first time it has ever issued such warrants against leaders of a democratic country.

Under the terms of the warrants, Netanyahu and Gallant risk arrest if they travel to any of the more than 120 countries that are members of the court.

Situation in the State of Palestine:#ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I rejects the State of Israel’s challenges to jurisdiction and issues warrants of arrest for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. Learn more https://t.co/opHUjZG8BL

— Int’l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) November 21, 2024

The court did not release the content of the full warrants, although an ICC statement said it “found reasonable grounds to believe” from Oct. 8, 2023, until May 20, 2024, at least, Netanyahu and Gallant “each bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts” as well as “the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.”

Both Netanyahu and Gallant are accused of a laundry list of alleged crimes, much of which seems to stem from the nature of the war, with Hamas being not just embedded but rather rooted within a civilian population. The court claimed both Israeli politicians failed to “prevent or repress the commission of crimes or ensure the submittal of the matter to the competent authorities,” despite having the means to do so. It should be noted there is significant documentary evidence to show the lengthy process through which the IDF is subject to, which in many instances results in aborted missions because of the presence of the civilian population.

In the Pre-Trial Chamber’s released statement, the judges highlight many areas of concern, which relate to humanitarian aid.

“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, from at least 8 October 2023 to 20 May 2024,” the ICC statement read. It further alleges, “cutting off electricity and reducing fuel supply also had a severe impact on the availability of water in Gaza and the ability of hospitals to provide medical care.” It added these issues were only addressed when the United States threatened to withdraw aid, rather than fulfilling its obligations under “international humanitarian law.”

Ultimately, the Chamber accused Netanyahu and Gallant of bearing “criminal responsibility for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare.”

Netanyahu and Gallant were also charged with “intentionally limiting or preventing medical supplies and medicine from getting into Gaza, in particular anesthetics and anesthesia machines.” It claims doctors were forced to perform amputations, including on children, which without the requisite drugs, caused “extreme pain and suffering.”

The chamber rejected Israel’s petition against the warrants, which argued that the ICC does not have jurisdiction because Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute establishing the court. The pre-trial chamber ruled that “the court can exercise its jurisdiction on the basis of territorial jurisdiction of Palestine,” which it recognizes as a state and considers to include Gaza, the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) and east Jerusalem.

The Prime Minister’s Office released a statement which rejected the “baseless and outrageous” accusations leveled against Israel. It further argued the nature of the charges, emanating from a corrupt prosecutor who is facing sexual misconduct charges over allegations of groping a female colleague, is antisemitic.

Members of Netanyahu’s ruling coalition reacted with anger to the ruling. The court has “once again shown that it is antisemitic through and through,” declared National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, while Transportation Minister Miri Regev called the warrants “a legal absurdity.” Israel’s former prime minister Naftali Bennett said the arrest warrants were not a “mark of shame on Israel’s leaders, rather on the ICC itself.” Another former prime minister and an individual who has been part of the decision-making process regarding the conduct of the war, Benny Gantz, wrote on X decrying the ICC decision as “moral blindness and [a] shameful stain of historic proportion[s] that will never be forgotten.”

The Prime Minister’s Office strongly rejects the baseless and outrageous accusations leveled against Israel by the International Criminal Court, calling it a biased and politically driven institution.

The statement condemns the decision as the work of a corrupt chief prosecutor… https://t.co/jRVlXzBsez pic.twitter.com/BlSSYG4IqF

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) November 21, 2024

U.S. lawmakers fiercely condemned the ICC’s decision to issue arrest warrants to the two Israeli leaders. Sen. Lindsey Graham labeled the move “absurd and irresponsible,” adding, “The Court is a dangerous joke.” Congressman Mike Waltz from Florida posted on X: “The ICC has no credibility and these allegations have been refuted by the U.S. government.

“Israel has lawfully defended its people & borders from genocidal terrorists. You can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC & U.N. come January.”

The International Corrupt Criminal Court has acted in the most absurd and irresponsible manner possible by issuing arrest warrants against the Prime Minister and former Defense Minister of Israel while there is a serious cloud of allegations hanging over the prosecutor who sought… https://t.co/Umf47snDFI

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 21, 2024

Despite the U.S. House sanctioning Karim Khan and other ICC employees for asking for the warrants, sources close to Netanyahu have apparently been concerned that the dying embers of Biden’s term in office might provide a significant source of jeopardy for Israel’s prime minister.

Meanwhile, an arrest warrant was also issued for senior Hamas military wing leader Mohammed Deif. This would ordinarily be an interesting development, however, Deif is assessed to have been eliminated by an IDF strike on Gaza on July 13 this year, after his position was revealed by a Palestinian courier. Hamas has never publicly admitted his death, although privately they are thought to have acknowledged it. The court dropped previous arrest warrants for both Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, whom the IDF terminated in Gaza in October, and Tehran in July, respectively.