THE International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In a statement released on Thursday, the ICC “unanimously” rejected objections brought by Israel and said it had found sufficient evidence to arrest Netanyahu for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.
The UK is one of 124 countries to have signed up as a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
In 2001, the previous Labour government passed the International Criminal Court Act into domestic UK law.
This means that should Netanyahu set foot on UK soil, the Labour Government is legally obliged to arrest him.
What has Keir Starmer said about the UK's obligations?
We asked: “If the International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, would you honour it?
“If he came to the UK, would a government that you lead see him arrested?”
He responded: “Well, look, that's a completely hypothetical because, you know the procedure in the court, which is the prosecutor asks or seeks the warrant, the court, in due course, or a chamber within the court, in due course, will make its decision.
“So, we'll wait and see."
Starmer went on: “But, look, we have supported the independence of the court. I believe in the rule of law.
“There's no equivalence, we’ll never accept equivalence between Hamas and Israel, which has its right to self-defence.
“But I believe in the international rule of law and I respect the independence of both the prosecutor and the court, but they've got a decision to make at some point in the future.”
Pressed on whether he would honour any arrest warrant the ICC may issue, Starmer only said: “I will deal with that when the court has made its decision.”
The UK Government has been approached for comment.
