Meretz leader Horowitz under fire for saying ICC probe of Israel is justified

Right-wing and centrist parties lambaste MK Nitzan Horowitz, the leader of the left-wing Meretz party, after Horowitz justified the decision by the International Criminal Court to probe possible war crimes by Israel and the Palestinians in the summer of 2014.

“I am in favor of cooperating with the court,” Horowitz tells Channel 13 news. “Unfortunately, I say this with great sadness, there was a place for this decision. I don’t want Israel to face these situations… but Israel needs to ask itself what it needs to do to prevent that.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud reacts by saying Horowitz “is abandoning IDF soldiers who guard him and all of us” and adds the premier will fight the “anti-Semitic” decision.

Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party calls the remark “miserable” and urges Horowitz to apologize for “supporting an anti-Semitic decision.”

Yamina MK Ayelet Shaked says her party won’t sit with Meretz in the same coalition, citing the remark justifying the ICC’s “political and anti-Semitic activity persecuting IDF soldiers” and calling it an “embarrassment for the Knesset.”

Itamar Ben-Gvir, an extreme-right candidate for the Religious Zionism party, says he has urged Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to open an investigation against Horowitz on suspicion of “treason.”

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, speaking to Channel 13, also criticizes Horowitz for his “unacceptable” remark.