“It is difficult for me to imagine that arrests will occur in Germany on this basis,” the main spokesman for the Executive, Steffen Hebestreit, said at the German Government’s regular press conference. That basis is an international arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Germany is a party to the treaty and would be obliged to comply with the order.
Equidistance with Israel is once again imposed in numerous capitals of the world after the arrest warrants of the International Criminal Court against Benjamin Netanyahu and the former Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes.
In a deliberately ambiguous statementHebestreit said that Germany “takes note” of the ICC decision. The spokesperson recalled that “Germany participated in the drafting of the court’s statute and is one of its main supporters.” “At the same time, it is a consequence of Germany’s history that we have unique relations and great responsibility with Israel.”
“We will carefully examine the internal steps. Any other measure would only be taken when a stay of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Joav Galant in Germany is foreseeable,” the statement added.
For his part, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, has called the decision of international justice “scandalous” and several countries have avoided clarifying whether they would comply with the order if Israeli leaders set foot on their territory, as established. the Rome Statute.
Hungarian far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has directly defied the court by inviting Netanyahu to Budapest through a letter.
The international court has found “reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant have criminal responsibility” for the massacre carried out in Gaza since October 8, 2023 following the Hamas attacks in Israel. Despite the seriousness of the situation, the response of the international community is being lax. In fact, this week the high representative of the EU, Josep Borrell, put the suspension of political dialogue with Tel Aviv on the table and the majority of member states rejected it.
Now, the head of European diplomacy, who has barely a week left in his position, has appealed to the countries that ratified the Rome Statute to comply with the arrest warrant against Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister. “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,” he said in a press conference with the Jordanian Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi.
Arab countries have celebrated the decision of the International Criminal Court, which also includes Hamas leader Mohamed Deif, and several countries have assured that they will comply with the order, such as Canada and the Netherlands. However, not everyone has clarified whether they would do so. This is the case of the United Kingdom or France, for example.
“We respect the independence of the ICC, which is the primary international institution to investigate and prosecute the most serious crimes under international law,” said a spokesperson for the British Labor Government who, however, declined to “enter into hypotheses” regarding a possible arrest. on Netanyahu’s British soil. “We support the continuation of the work of the ICC. Our reaction will be in line with these principles,” said the French spokesperson, who, when asked if the French authorities would arrest Netanyahu if he entered French soil, avoided giving a clear answer: “It is a legally complex issue. I will not make any further comments today. It is a situation that must be treated with many precautions.”
Some European countries have directly criticized the decision. The Austrian Foreign Minister, the conservative Alexander Schallenberg, assured that it “attacks the credibility of the International Criminal Court” and described it as “absolutely incomprehensible.” The Hungarian Prime Minister went a step further by claiming that he is “cynical” and defied the court by inviting Netanyahu to visit Budapest.
In Italy, after opposite statements from several ministers, statements from the President of the Government, Giorgia Meloni, arrived this Friday. “In the coming days I will delve into the motivations that led to the ruling of the International Criminal Court. Motivations that should always be objective and not political in nature,” reads an official note. In the statement, Meloni repeats that “there can be no equivalence between the responsibilities of the State of Israel and those of the terrorist organization Hamas” and announces that “the Italian Presidency of the G7 intends to include the issue on the agenda of the next meeting of foreign ministers, which will be held in Fiuggi from November 25 to 26.”
In an interview on TVE, Borrell assured that it is “highly worrying” that there are European countries that intend to bypass the arrest order.
In a statement, Biden harshly criticized the arrest warrant: “The issuance of arrest warrants by the ICC against Israeli leaders is scandalous. Let me be clear once again: regardless of what the ICC may entail, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas. “We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”
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