International criminal court issues warrants over alleged war crimes
Israel’s recently appointed foreign minister, Gideon Saar, has said the world should reject ICC warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant with “disgust” as an “injustice”.
Posting in Hebrew to social media, Saar said:
These are orders that are not only directed against them personally. In fact, this is an attack on Israel’s right to defend itself. This attack is directed against the most attacked and threatened country in the world, which is also the only country that other countries in the region openly call for and work to destroy.
From a moral perspective, this is a moral aberration that turns good into bad and serves evil.
The Chamber issued warrants of arrest for two individuals, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest.
The arrest warrants are classified as ‘secret’, in order to protect witnesses and to safeguard the conduct of the investigations. However, the Chamber decided to release the information below since conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant of arrest appears to be ongoing. Moreover, the Chamber considers it to be in the interest of victims and their families that they are made aware of the warrants’ existence.
