From the Liveblog of
Thursday, November 21, 2024
Government ministers slam ‘antisemitic’ ICC arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Members of Israel’s government issue harsh condemnations of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, accusing it of antisemitism in the wake of its decision to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.
The court has “once against shown that it is antisemitic through and through,” declares far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
“The answer to the arrest warrants is applying sovereignty over all the territories of Judea and Samaria and settlement in all parts of the country and severing ties with the terrorist [Palestinian] authority, along with sanctions,” he tweets.
“This is modern antisemitism in the guise of justice,” tweets Transportation Minister Miri Regev, calling the warrants “a legal absurdity.”
“Israel will not apologize for protecting its citizens. This is not a crime, this is our national and moral duty,” she argues.
Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf characterizes the warrants as “antisemitic accusations against all citizens of Israel” — pledging that Jerusalem will “not be deterred and will continue to fight murderous terrorism.”
MK Avi Maoz, a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, calls the court’s decision “hypocrisy of the worst kind.” The far-right politician accuses the court of “ingratiating itself to murderous dictatorships and ignoring serious global corruption” in order to go after a country in the middle of an “existential war.”
“Simply antisemitism, always antisemitism,” says Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, citing a verse from the Book of Numbers that states that the Jews are “a people that dwells alone, not reckoned among the nations.”
Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu states that it was “lucky that Churchill didn’t have to ask for permission from The Hague before saving Europe from the Nazis.”
“The court in The Hague has marked itself as the successor of the court of Sodom,” says Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock, comparing the ICC to the wicked Biblical city. “I expect the nations of the free world to withdraw from it in disgust, before they are stained with this terrible stain.”
