Israel challenges ICC over prosecutor's request for arrest warrants against PM and Defense Minister
Israel on Friday formally challenged the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) jurisdiction and its prosecutor’s requests for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Israel is arguing that the court does not have jurisdiction in the case of the Israel-Hamas war, spokesperson for Israel’s foreign ministry Oren Marmorstein said Friday.
It is also challenging the prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, calling it a “wrongful breach of the Court’s Statute and the principle of complementarity” and arguing that the court failed to provide Israel “with the opportunity to exercise its right to investigate by itself the claims raised by the Prosecutor, before proceeding.”
“No other democracy with an independent and respected legal system like that which exists in Israel has been treated in this prejudicial manner by the prosecutor,” wrote Mamorstein in a statement on X.
In May, the ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that he was seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.
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