Spain would detain Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he entered the country. “Spain respects the decision of the International Criminal Court and will comply with its commitments and obligations in relation to the Rome Statute and International Law,” Foreign Affairs sources say after learning of the arrest warrant issued by the ICC.
The EU high representative for foreign policy, Josep Borrell, recalled that this ICC decision is “binding on all States party to the treaty, including all EU members.”
“It is not a political decision, it is a decision of an international court of Justice, and the court’s decision has to be respected and applied,” said Borrell, asked about the ICC decision in a joint press conference with the Foreign Minister. Jordanian, Ayman Safadi, in Amman.
“I take note of the decision of the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister (Israeli, Benjamin) Netanyahu, former Minister of Defense (Yoav) Gallant and the leaders of Hamas,” he added in his speech.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued the arrest warrants requested in May by the court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes. According to the statute of the court, “the State Party that has received a request for provisional arrest or for arrest and surrender shall immediately take the necessary measures for the arrest in accordance with its domestic law and with the provisions of Part IX of this Statute. . Once the State of detention has ordered surrender, the detainee will be placed at the disposal of the Court as soon as possible.”
The arrest warrants are classified as “secret,” however, the court has made part of the information public because “it appears that conduct similar to that contemplated in the arrest warrant is being carried out.” says the International Criminal Court in a statement. “In addition, the court considers that it is in the interest of the victims and their families that they are informed of the existence of the arrest warrants.”
“With respect to the crimes, the chamber has found reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhuman acts,” the statement said.
Netanyahu has called the accusations against him “absurd and false” and has rejected the order issued by the ICC. “The ICC’s anti-Semitic decision is equivalent to the modern Dreyfus trial, and it will also end that way,” he said.
The judges also believe that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that both Israeli political leaders have “criminal responsibility” as civilian superiors for the war crime of “directly and deliberately attacking the civilian population.”
The court considers that there are also reasonable grounds to believe that both “knowingly and intentionally denied the civilian population of Gaza elements essential for their survival, including food, water and medical supplies.” The court’s statement maintains that when this humanitarian assistance occurred “it was a response to pressure from the international community or requests from the United States,” not to comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law.
The Court justifies the “crime of persecution” by arguing that “the population was attacked based on political and/or national reasons.”
More than 44,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza since October 2023 and thousands are under the rubble, according to local authorities, who denounce that Israel attacks homes and buildings where the displaced are sheltered, as well as tent camps in those who have relocated.
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