Smotrich says ICC prosecutor has requested an arrest warrant against him, vows to ‘fight back’

A previous version of this report incorrectly stated that Smotrich said an arrest warrant had already been issued against him.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says the International Criminal Court in The Hague has requested the issuance of an arrest warrant against him, describing the move as “a declaration of war.”

Immediately following a press conference he held announcing the warrant request, Smotrich, who also serves as a minister in the Defense Ministry with authority over civilian affairs in the West Bank, orders the demolition of the long-disputed Khan al-Ahmar Bedouin village east of Jerusalem.

Smotrich says that the ICC request is the result of efforts by the Palestinian Authority to pressure the court to prosecute senior Israeli political leaders, and says that he will “fight back with a vengeance” and that “any economic or other target” that he can harm as a minister, he will do so.

Smotrich does not say on what charges the prosecutor wishes to prosecute him, but at a press conference responding to the matter, he lauds his efforts in establishing “over 100 new settlements” in the West Bank and “160 farming outposts” which he says help control 247,000 acres of land in the territory.

Last year, The Wall Street Journal reported that the ICC prosecutor was seeking an arrest warrant against Smotrich for his role in expanding the West Bank settlements, which the International Court of Justice said in July 2024 in an advisory opinion was a violation of the Geneva Convention’s prohibition on transferring civilians to occupied territories.

Such activity has been interpreted as a war crime, which the ICC could prosecute.

“As a sovereign and independent state, we will not accept hypocritical dictates from biased bodies that regularly stand against the State of Israel, against our biblical, historical and legal rights in our homeland, and against our right and duty to self-defense and security,” says Smotrich.