ICC spokesman: Warrants for Israeli leaders won’t be swayed by ‘political matters’
Speaking to Hebrew media, Fadi el-Abdallah defends court’s jurisdiction due to ‘ratification of the State of Palestine,’ says Israel must conduct ‘genuine investigation’ to end probe
In interviews with Israeli media Thursday, a spokesperson for the International Criminal Court said the arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant would not be influenced by Washington’s threatened sanctions against the court and some member states’ indications of non-compliance with its ruling.
“The judges are independent and impartial” and their rulings will be based on the evidence and international law, Fadi el-Abdallah told the Reshet Bet radio station. “No political matters can be taken into consideration.”
The comment came as Israel gears up to appeal the warrants. El-Abdallah indicated it would be difficult to have the warrants withdrawn.
The spokesperson added that the ICC could end its investigation if the court were convinced that Israel was conducting “genuine investigations for the same individuals and for the same alleged crimes.” He indicated that a State Commission of Inquiry, which Netanyahu has repeatedly opposed, could fit the description.
In the meantime, Netanyahu and Gallant “can decide to appear on a voluntary basis” before the ICC, and will be presumed innocent until proven guilty, el-Abdallah said.
The spokesman also pushed back on arguments that the ICC has no jurisdiction in Israel, which is not a member of the court.
“We can use the territorial jurisdiction as established through the ratification of the State of Palestine,” el-Abdallah told Channel 12. The Palestinian Authority joined the court in 2015.
The ICC last Thursday approved the May request by Karim Khan, the court’s chief prosecutor, to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas military leader Muhammad Deif, whom Israel says it killed in July. Khan accuses Netanyahu and Gallant of targeting civilians in Gaza and using starvation as a weapon of war — both claims vehemently denied by Israel.
The court’s decision sparked outrage in Jerusalem. It effectively bars Netanyahu and Gallant from entering the court’s 124 member states — though Germany, France and Hungary are among several countries that have indicated they would not carry out the warrants.
Meanwhile, US lawmakers, and members of the incoming White House, have threatened sanctions against the ICC over the warrants. The current administration, while critical of Khan’s request, has hitherto rejected calls to sanction the court.
Speaking to Channel 12, el-Abdallah declined to comment on the threatened sanctions and apparent refusal to honor the court’s rulings.
“We do not comment on political statements and declarations,” he said, adding that “the ICC counts on the support and the cooperation of its 124 state parties.”
Saying he has access only to public information, el-Abdallah also pled ignorance as to whether the court would issue arrest warrants against other Israeli officials.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu’s office said Israel would appeal the ICC decision. El-Abdallah told Channel 12 that Israel needs to “submit a request to the ICC judges with the evidence about the existence of genuine investigations for the same persons and for the same alleged conducts, and then the judges can decide on that.”
The @IntlCrimCourt has issued arrest warrants for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, ex-defense minister Yoav Gallant, and a former Hamas commander over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity
UN News spoke with ICC’s Fadi El Abdallah on the next stepshttps://t.co/7jEkurtIPI— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) November 22, 2024
The arrest warrants “cannot be withdrawn unless by the [ICC] judges themselves based on a strong legal argumentation,” the court spokesperson told Reshet Bet.
Responding to Jerusalem’s accusation that the ICC was unfairly pursuing Israel, el-Abdallah told the radio station that “we all have to obey the law and no one should be considered above the law.”
The court’s role is to investigate alleged war crimes and “to ensure that there is accountability for these crimes,” he told Channel 12. “The fact that there is a war doesn’t mean that everything is allowed.”
He explained that under the court’s so-called principle of complementarity, the responsibility to prosecute such crimes lies chiefly with states’ own courts.
“But if they are not active or if they are not willing or if they are not capable of conducting genuine investigations… then the ICC can go ahead with the cases,” said el-Abdallah.
Asked if a state commission of inquiry could satisfy the court, el-Abdallah said, “It’s something that can be raised either by the defense of the suspects or by the state that is concerned.”
The ICC judges would then assess “if indeed there are genuine investigations for the same persons and for the same alleged conducts and then they can decide whether this is accepted or not,” he added.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid on Wednesday urged Netanyahu to form a State Commission of Inquiry — Israel’s highest investigative authority — to fend off the ICC warrants. Gallant has also expressed support for a state commission.
Netanyahu, by contrast, has repeatedly voiced opposition to such an inquiry during the war and declined to promise one after the fighting ends. The premier is reportedly promoting legislation that would ban a state commission from investigating his government’s failure to prevent thousands of Hams-led terrorists from storming southern Israel on October 7, 2023, to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 44,000 people, according to the Hamas health ministry. The figure, which cannot be independently verified, does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed at least 18,000 gunmen in Gaza, as well as some 1,000 inside Israel during the Hamas onslaught. Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
