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The possible ICC arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister are causing anger in Berlin. Why Merz calls the German government’s stance a “scandal”.
Berlin – The arrest warrants requested by the International Criminal Court against the Hamasleadership and against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are causing a dispute in the federal government. If these applications were to be granted, i.e. if international arrest warrants were issued, the federal government would be faced with the question of whether or not to allow Netanyahu to be arrested if he visited Germany. And opinions vary widely about this decision.
Government spokesman with clear words: Germany adheres to the law from The Hague
Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit had previously answered the question of whether Germany would abide by the decisions of the criminal court: “Yes, we abide by the law.” Germany is “fundamentally” a supporter of the ICC, said government spokesman Hebestreit on Wednesday (22 May) at the federal press conference in Berlin. When asked whether this also includes abiding by the court’s decisions, Hebestreit said: “Of course. Yes, we abide by the law.”
The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court The Hague, Karim Khan, had requested an arrest warrant for alleged crimes against humanity against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Joav Galant. Arrest warrants were also requested for the leader of the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip, his deputy and against Hamas’s foreign chief, reports German press agency.
Merz rages: Simultaneous arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Hamas are an “absurd reversal of perpetrator and victim”
CDU leader Friedrich Merz has sharply criticized the actions of the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israel and the federal government’s reaction to it. The simultaneous application for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leadership of the radical Islamic Hamas was “an absurd perpetrator-victim reversal,” said Merz Bild newspaper on Wednesday (May 22). “But the silence of the federal government, including the government spokesman’s suggestion that Netanyahu could be arrested on German soil, is now truly a scandal.”
“Of course, one can and must now criticize the Israeli government,” said Merz. “But the International Criminal Court was set up to hold despots and authoritarian heads of state to account, not to arrest democratically elected members of the government.” The CDU leader demanded a statement from Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD): “What is the much-vaunted solidarity with Israel worth if the German government spokesman allows himself to be carried away by such statements? And is that also the opinion of the Chancellor?”
Scholz remains silent so far: Federal government makes Israel’s security a matter of state
Scholz has not yet commented on the matter. However, the German government has repeatedly stressed Germany’s special responsibility for Israel’s security, which it says is “German state policy”. From the German perspective, many legal questions remain unresolved, including the future course of the borders, the status of Jerusalem, Israeli settlement activities and the return of Palestinian refugees. (bg/dpa).
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