UK confirms it will retract objection to ICC arrest warrants against Netanyahu, Gallant
British government says it’s for the court to decide on; senior Israeli official says move ‘contrary to justice and truth, violates the right of all democracies to fight terrorism’
A spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed Friday that the country will withdraw the previous government’s objection to the International Criminal Court’s request for arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The spokesperson said that the decision of whether or not to issue the warrants is for the court to make.
“On the ICC submission… I can confirm the government will not be pursuing (the proposal) in line with our long-standing position that this is a matter for the court to decide on,” the spokesperson told reporters.
Prior to the announcement, a senior Israeli official tore into the United Kingdom over the reported plan to withdraw its objection.
“Israel is deeply disappointed by this fundamentally wrong decision,” the senior official said in a briefing with reporters in Washington, during a visit to the United States by Netanyahu and senior aides.
“It is contrary to justice and truth and violates the right of all democracies to fight terrorism,” the official added.
The New York Times reported Thursday that Starmer, elected in the Labour Party’s landslide victory earlier this month, was expected to drop the country’s objection to the potential arrest warrants.
In May, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan filed a request for arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant along with three leaders of the Hamas terror group — Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Deif.
Israel and Hamas have been at war since October 7, when thousands of terrorists led by the group invaded southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
Israel responded with an offensive in Gaza to destroy Hamas, return the hostages and prevent the enclave from posing a security threat going forward.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 39,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 15,000 combatants in battle and some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 attack.
Khan said that the charges against Israel’s premier and defense chief are for the crimes of “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict.”
Israel says many of the civilians have been killed due to the terror group’s use of civilians as human shields. Israel has highlighted its efforts to expand humanitarian aid to Gaza and blames the humanitarian crisis on aid agencies failing to properly distribute supplies and on looting of aid trucks by terror groups and gangs.
The Labour government withdrawing its objection to the requested warrants would be the UK’s latest break with the United States over the ongoing war.
Last week, British Foreign Minister David Lammy said that Britain would restore funding for UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, which Israel has accused of aiding and abetting Hamas.
Meanwhile, the Labour government’s new attorney general has expressed opposition to the previous government’s planned ban on local initiatives to boycott Israel.
The US, which opposes the warrant requests, has continued to withhold funds from UNRWA and enacted legislation banning boycotts of Israel.
Starmer, whose wife and children are Jewish, has identified as a Zionist in the past. He has also ousted Labour members accused of antisemitism, including his predecessor in the leadership, Jeremy Corbyn.
Agencies contributed to this report.
