Israel working to block feared ICC arrest warrants against PM, others over Gaza war

[David__77]

Israel was making a concerted effort to head off feared plans by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials, an Israeli government source told The Times of Israel on Sunday.

The National Security Council was leading the campaign, according to the source.

…

Writing for the Walla news site, analyst Ben Caspit said Netanyahu was “under unusual stress” over the prospect of an arrest warrant against him and other Israelis by the United Nations tribunal in The Hague, which would be a major deterioration in Israel’s international status.

Netanyahu was leading a “nonstop push over the telephone” to prevent an arrest warrant, focused especially on the administration of US President Joe Biden, Caspit reported.

…

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-working-to-block-feared-icc-arrest-warrants-against-pm-others-over-gaza-war/

[Bayard]

1. Make it so

He's a war criminal, plain and simple. But it won't be easy for Pres. Biden to go along now, since we've been supplying the weapons.

[Ping Tung]

2. In other news: Bibi Netanyahu to hire former president Trump's whining instructor

to perfect the Art of Playing Victim.

[Autumn]

3. Keeping fingers crossed Biden will keep his distance from this.

[dutch777]

4. One wonders how Bibi and friends lobby against this....legally? Something has to bring Israel into acceptable norms...

...in their war with Hamas. And maybe soon Hezbollah. You can't be killing and maiming and starving civilians by the tens of thousands trying to get at a few thousand remaining terrorists. And even dumber when you aren't ever going to reach the goal as your tactics are turning more against you than you are defeating. Oh, and your use of heavy bombs on the tunnel systems has been killing the hostages you claim you want to get back....alive.

[Bucky]

10. Israel is a country with a government. Hamas is a fire

Israel's trying to stamp it out. I don't think Netanyahu understands that it'll grow back if you don't deprive it of fuel. He's definitely not the person who can bring the threat of Hamas to an end.

[dutch777]

17. I am very afraid you are right.

[Ontheboundry]

5. Any arrest warrants for Hamas leaders?

I didn't see any of those names on there

[sarisataka]

6. Arrest warrant? Please

Freedom fighters, like Nelson Mandela, get nominated for the Nobel peace prize.

[Bucky]

9. They're definitely in a different category

Hamas needs to be "kill on sight".

Netanyahu, while relatively evil, deserves a trial with prosecution and defense. He appears guilty of war crimes. It's important to be able to see the difference.

[Ontheboundry]

15. I'm no fan of bibi or israel

But certain things, like October 7th, and the response for college campus students has made me look closer at the other side

[Think. Again.]

7. I don't think Israel has to worry about it's "international status" anymore...

... that ship has sailed, the children the IDF have killed, are dead.

[David__77]

8. It depends on which audience is being contemplated

It is likely unhelpful in some ways similar to the WCK incident.

[Mosby]

11. The ICC doesn't have jurisdiction.

If they challenge Israel's sovereignty it's only going to hurt Palestinians status re the Rome statute.

[David__77]

13. It has as much jurisdiction as it does with regard to Putin.

From the perspective of the court, state of Palestine’s rights and obligations are the same as any other state.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

14. The bottom line is that the ICC has no jurisdiction, no police force and no enforcement powers and

Israel is not a signatory of the ICC, just as the US is not a signatory either, so good luck with enforcing this "warrant".

[Donkees]

12. ''How the court works''

https://www.icc-cpi.int/about/how-the-court-works

The ICC is intended to complement, not to replace, national criminal systems; it prosecutes cases only when States do not are unwilling or unable to do so genuinely.

As a judicial institution, the ICC does not have its own police force or enforcement body; thus, it relies on cooperation with countries worldwide for support, particularly for making arrests, transferring arrested persons to the ICC detention centre in The Hague, freezing suspects’ assets, and enforcing sentences.

While not a United Nations organization, the Court has a cooperation agreement with the United Nations. When a situation is not within the Court’s jurisdiction, the United Nations Security Council can refer the situation to the ICC granting it jurisdiction. This has been done in the situations in Darfur (Sudan) and Libya.

... Pre-Trial judges issue warrants of arrest and ensure there is enough evidence before a case can go to trial.

[leftstreet]

16. DURec