Israel’s response to the news that the ICC prosecutor has sought arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity could have been expected (Israel calls on ‘civilised nations’ to boycott ICC arrest warrants against its leaders, 21 May). From asserting that the warrants would hinder Israel’s right to self-defence and create an offensive equivalence with Hamas’s crimes to the preposterous smearing of the prosecutor as antisemitic, Israel’s claims can be easily refuted.
The US, in its reaction, reverted to imperial type. Having welcomed the ICC’s decision in March 2023 to issue an arrest warrant for international crimes against Vladimir Putin in respect of the war in Ukraine, it now called the ICC’s request “outrageous”. It claimed that faith should be had in Israel’s judicial system to deal with international crimes, although all a neutral observer can see is a history of impunity. In short, the US has reacted with customary hostility when the ICC’s actions do not suit its interests.
