It is foreseeable that the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu intends to visit his ally Donald Trump when he becomes president of the United States on January 20. But the air routes connecting Israel and the United States pass through European airspace. What would happen if the device had to perform a emergency landing? Spain, France or Germany should stop it. Because since this Thursday there is an international arrest warrant against the 75-year-old Israeli prime minister that must be carried out by the 124 countries signatories to the 1998 Rome Statutewhich is the legal basis of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Netanyahu is persecuted internationally for alleged crimes of enormous seriousness: the use of hunger as a weapon of war against the inhabitants of Gaza (war crime) and crimes against humanity for allegedly ordering deliberate killings of civilians, for the persecution based on nationality to the Palestinians and by others “inhuman acts”. The Hague lists facts such as amputations in young children without anesthesia by the blockade of humanitarian aid and medical supplies from Israel to Gaza, among other atrocities.
For the same crimes, the arrest of his former Minister of Defense has also been ordered, Yoav Gallantand against the presumed deceased Palestinian leader of Hamas, Mohamed Deifdue to the attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023. More than 44,000 people have already died in Gaza, mostly women and children, and the Strip is now uninhabitable, according to the United Nations; and in Israel, Hamas attacks resulted in some 1,400 deaths, mostly civilians, in addition to more than 200 kidnappings by Hamas.
The ICC’s decision is unprecedented: never before had the high international court ordered the arrest of the head of government of a democratic country and ally of the United States. Puts Netanyahu on the level of the Russian president Vladimir Putinagainst whom there is also an arrest warrant for war crimes during the invasion of Ukraine. Previously, the Court issued international arrest warrants against the Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir or the libyan Muammar Gaddafi.
“This decision is unprecedented and marks a before and after. This is the leader of a country that presents itself as democratic and is now accused of crimes of enormous gravity,” he said. Haizam Amirah Fernándezanalyst specialized in the contemporary Arab world. “It is the moment of truth for countries that have been juggling diplomatic and legal in their unconditional support for the State of Israel, especially Germany”.
International diplomatic dilemma
The Government of Pedro Sánchez points out that, indeed, it would arrest Netanyahu if he set foot on national soil, although it has avoided saying so explicitly. “Spain respects the decision of the International Criminal Court and will comply with its commitments and obligations in relation to the Rome Statute and International Law”, official sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have stated. The news was known on the same day that the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammad Mustafa, and part of his government were in Madrid for the first high-level meeting since Spain’s recognition of the State of Palestine.
The world now enters uncharted diplomatic territory. Germany “takes note of the arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu,” according to German diplomatic sources telling this newspaper. “The general principle is the independence of justice, whether national, European or international. In the past we have already clearly stated that Germany respects law and legality. We are carefully studying what the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court means for its implementation in Germany.
The still head of European diplomacy, Joseph Borrellhas urged EU countries to implement the order because “it is binding.” The Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeauhas assured that his country will comply with the decisions of the ICC because “it is important that everyone respects international law,” Reuters reports.
Netherlands has warned that it “will not establish non-essential contacts” with the Israeli Government and “will act in accordance with arrest warrants.” Swiss He has already confirmed that he will arrest him if he enters his territory. France He will act “in accordance with the statutes of the International Criminal Court”, although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not want to specify whether they would arrest him, because it is a “complex legal matter.” The prime minister Irish, Simon Harris has called on all those who can help the Court carry out its essential work to support it “urgently”. The nuances have come from countries like Italiawhich respects and “supports the ICC”, but asks that it “play a legal and not a political role.” Austria has criticized The Hague’s decision, although it remembers that it is a signatory to the Rome Statute and is obliged to implement the arrest warrants. Everyone could refuse to do so, as was the recent case of Mongolia with Putin or in the past of South Africa with al-Bashir, but it would be difficult to justify in advanced democracies.
The United States has charged against the arrest warrant. The Biden Administration, which has supported Israel with weapons and billions of euros in military aid for this war, is holding talks with Tel Aviv to see what steps they take now. Republican congressmen have called for sanctions on the International Criminal Court and its members. The American country is not adhering to the Court, in part to protect its soldiers from international persecution, and in that sense it is not obliged to execute the order. Likewise, large countries such as China, Russia or India have not signed the Rome Statute either.
A decision under pressure
The International Criminal Court has made this decision under great pressure and after almost half a year of deliberations, when the usual decision time for the fifty similar orders issued so far has been an average of eight weeks.
A group of Republican senators sent a threatening letter to Attorney General Karim Khanfor its decision on May 20 to request those arrest warrants from The Hague. One of the three judges of the Preliminary Court who had to make the decision He recently left office due to “health problems.”. And the court has ordered an external independent investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment to one of his employees by Karim Khan. “In the end, the internal mechanism of the International Criminal Court has worked,” concludes Amirah Fernández. “Some say nothing is going to change on the ground immediately, and that may be true. But it will open the doors to a avalanche of legal actions in countries where there is rule of law, using these arrest warrants plus the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the illegality of the Israeli occupation of Palestine; also [a acciones legales] to governments for possible complicity in arms shipments, for example.”
