Netanyahu condemns ICC war crimes arrest warrants

[Pelican Press 0]

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Netanyahu condemns ICC war ******* arrest warrants

EPA / REUTERS / SUPPLIED

From left to right: Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant and Mohammed Deif

******** Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned as “antisemitic” a decision by the International ********* Court to issue arrest warrants for war ******* against him and ex-Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

He said the ICC was “falsely” accusing them “of deliberately targeting civilians, this when we do everything in our power to avoid civilian casualties”.

The ICC also issued a warrant for ****** commander Mohammed Deif. ******* says he was ******* in Gaza in July.

ICC judges said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe the three men bore “********* responsibility” for ******* during the war between ******* and ******.

US President Joe Biden called the ICC move against ******** officials “outrageous”.

“Whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between ******* and ******,” Biden said in a

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. “We will always stand with ******* against threats to its security.”

Both ******* and ****** ******* the allegations made by the ICC.

Watch: Netanyahu condemns ICC arrest warrant

In a statement on Thursday, Netanyahu said: “The antisemitic decision of the international court in The Hague is a modern Dreyfus trial, and it will end the same way.”

He was referring to a

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in France just over a century ago.

“The court in The Hague accuses us of a deliberate policy of starvation,” the ******** PM said.

“This when we have supplied Gaza with 700,000 tons of food to feed the people of Gaza. We issue millions of text messages, phone calls, leaflets to the citizens of Gaza to get them out of harm’s way – while the ****** terrorists do everything in their power to keep them in harm’s way, including ********* them, using them as human shields.”

Netanyahu said ******* would “not recognise the validity” of the ICC’s decision.

Just this week, the UN warned that Palestinians were “facing diminishing conditions for survival” in parts of northern Gaza under siege by ******** forces because virtually no aid had been delivered in 40 days.

Gallant said the ICC placed “the state of ******* and the murderous leaders of ****** in the same row and thus legitimises the ******* of *******, the ***** of women and the abduction of the elderly from their beds”.

Ehud Olmert, a former ******** prime minister, told the BBC that while he was critical of Netanyahu’s handling of the conflict with ******, he did not agree with the ICC’s decision.

“******* has not committed genocide or war ******* that deserve these charges against the prime minister and the minister of defence,” Olmert told Radio 4’s World Tonight programme.

****** made no mention of the Deif warrant but said the move against Netanyahu and Gallant constituted an “important historical precedent, and a correction to a long path of historical injustice against our people”.

Palestinians in Gaza expressed hope ******** leaders would now be brought to justice.

******* denies the allegation that its forces are committing genocide in Gaza, which is the subject of a separate case before the International Court of Justice.

Getty Images

A girl stands among the rubble of buildings destroyed by ******** air strikes in Khan Yunis, the Gaza Strip, this month

The impact of the

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will depend on whether the court’s 124 member states – which do not include ******* or its ally, the US – decide to enforce them or not.

Several ********* countries have said they respect ICC decisions. Downing Street said the British government respected the independence of the ICC.

The prosecutor’s case against the three men stems from 7 October 2023, when ****** gunmen attacked *******, ******** about 1,200 people and taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.

******* responded by launching a military campaign to eliminate ******, during which at least 44,000 people have been ******* in Gaza, according to the territory’s ******-run health ministry.

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an ICC pre-trial chamber found reasonable grounds to believe he was “responsible for the ******* against humanity of *******; extermination; ********; and ***** and other form of ******* *********; as well as the war ******* of *******, cruel treatment, ********; taking hostages; outrages upon personal dignity; and ***** and other form of ******* *********”.

It also said there were reasonable grounds to believe the ******* against humanity were “part of a widespread and systematic ******* directed by ****** and other armed groups against the civilian population of *******”.

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who was replaced as defence minister earlier this month, the chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that they “each bear ********* responsibility for the following ******* as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war ****** of starvation as a method of warfare; and the ******* against humanity of *******, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.

It also found reasonable grounds to believe that “each bear ********* responsibility as civilian superiors for the war ****** of intentionally directing an ******* against the civilian population”.

Reuters

******* says 97 hostages kidnapped in ******’s 7 October 2023 ******* are still being held in Gaza

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#Netanyahu #condemns #ICC #war #******* #arrest #warrants

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