IT'S probably the only thing that the Israeli government and Hamas have had in common these past months. I’m speaking, of course, about that fact that both were quick to condemn the International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan's request for warrants against leaders of both Israel and Hamas when he made them earlier in May.
Even back then though there was no getting away from the fact that this was a significant moment, one that sent shockwaves through the region and beyond.
“This is massive,” was how Wayne Jordash KC, a barrister focused on international law who advises the Palestinian Authority summed it up at the time.
“No more will the ICC be regarded as the court that only goes after the weak ... This is definitely his [Khan’s] legacy,” Jordash was quoted as saying to the Financial Times at the time, reflecting the magnitude of the moment.
But even as pivotal as that moment was for Khan (above) and the ICC back in May, today’s confirmation that those arrest warrants have now been issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Mohammed Deif for crimes against humanity and war crimes, marks a watershed in the ICC’s near 22-year history.
If reactions in Israel to the decision which effectively turns Netanyahu and Gallant into internationally wanted suspects is anything to go by, then outrage would be something of an understatement.
“The arrest warrants are a prize for terrorism,” insisted former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet, and was a “mark of shame” on the court. Meanwhile Israeli President Isaac Herzog, proclaimed in a post on X: "This is a dark day for justice."
Other leading political figures were equally condemnatory, with the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz quoting Transportation Minister Miri Regev as calling the decision “antisemitism disguised as justice".
Issuing its own statement, the office of Prime Minister Netanyahu said the “decision was made by a corrupt chief prosecutor attempting to save himself from serious allegations of sexual harassment, and by biased judges driven by antisemitic hatred toward Israel".
But it was left to Israel’s far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir (below), to call for the annexing of “all areas of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank)” in response to the ICC's decision, a call which precisely illustrates Israel’s disregard for international law that resulted in the ICC seeking warrants in the first place.
But predictable as the outrage in Israel was, the ramifications of the ICC’s decision will be felt far and wide even if Israel and its major ally, the United States, are not actually members of the court.
It’s worth remembering that reports surfacing earlier this year indicated that the US lobbied the then UK’s new Labour government not to drop a legal challenge against the ICC authority seeking arrest warrants. As has been the norm for so long in Washington’s double standards over Israel’s onslaught in Gaza, it has previously welcomed ICC war crimes warrants against Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials for atrocities committed in Ukraine, while denouncing the court’s pursuit of Netanyahu and Gallant.
It’s precisely these double standards both by the US and UK that led United Nations special rapporteur Francesca Albanese to recently double down on her criticism of Israel and world leaders for failing to stop what she described as the “colonial erasure” of Palestinian in Gaza. Albanese also called for more arrest warrants to be issued for Israeli leaders over suspected war crimes and no doubt will welcome today’s ICC announcement.
In a recent wide ranging interview with the UK based media website Middle East Eye (MEE), Albanese, an Italian human rights lawyer who holds the title of the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, took particular aim at UK politicians downplaying the seriousness of the risk of genocide in Gaza.
Commenting on British Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s claims that Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza because millions of people have not been killed, Albanese told MEE: "He's referring to cases where genocide has resulted in industrial scale of killing, of mass extermination, like in Rwanda and during the Holocaust.
"But it's not the numbers of those killed that determines whether or not there is genocide, and any lawyer would know that.
"I hadn't realised that Mr Lammy was a lawyer," she said, referring to Lammy's legal background.
"As a politician, you might say that for political convenience," she suggested, adding that his comments would still make him "a genocide denier".
Last Wednesday Prime Minister Keir Starmer reiterated similar statements, telling Parliament in response to a question about the Government's lack of recognition of a genocide in Gaza: "I'm well aware of the definition of genocide, and that is why I've never referred to it as genocide."
Albanese has urged Lammy to review his stance, saying he still has the opportunity to do so with the changing developments on the ground. Today’s ICC decision will intensify the pressure on the UK government which is one of the ICC’s 124 member states to shift its position even if Washington again brings its own leverage to bear in favour of Israel.
Responding to the ICC’s confirmation of issuing the warrants, Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s chief executive, urged the UK to “unequivocally” back the move.
“In opposition the Foreign Secretary said in government his party would comply with any arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court, and we now need to see Mr Lammy and the whole UK Government unequivocally backing this vitally important move by the ICC,” said Deshmukh.
“In compliance with their international legal obligations, the UK authorities should be prepared to make swift arrests if Benjamin Netanyahu or Yoav Gallant step foot on British soil,” Deshmukh added.
As one of the ICC’s member states Britain like others which include most European and Latin American countries and many in Africa and Asia – would be obliged to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant if they entered their territory. But the court has no means of enforcing the warrants if they do not.
For now though the warrants will certainly seriously reinforce the sense that Israel has become increasingly isolated internationally over the conduct of its war against Hamas in the besieged Gaza Strip. Whether the UK will reflect this in adopting a new position on the issue however ... only the coming days will tell.
