FIRST ON FOX — Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett added his voice to the rising condemnation of the Worldwide Legal Court docket (ICC) after a prosecutor introduced he would request arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas officers.
“It’s a shameful second for the ICC,” Bennett instructed Fox Information Digital. “It’s a complete joke as a result of they’re taking the chief of a democracy that’s preventing in opposition to a terror group. … We totally reject this.”
Bennett repeated the claims that Hamas had burned kids and households, raped girls and killed 1,400 Israelis whereas abducting 240 extra and accused the ICC of appearing as a “political instrument” for the enemies of Israel who would equate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Protection Minister Yoav Gallant with the terrorist group.
“No decide in his proper thoughts would take into account doing this,” Bennett argued. “Due to this fact, the ICC must be dismantled and defunded, and [we should] use all of the instruments out there to try this.”
US ALLIES FRANCE, BELGIUM DEFEND ICC PROSECUTOR’S REQUEST FOR ISRAELI ARREST WARRANTS
Bennett known as the hassle to provide warrants for Israeli officers a “political play” and in contrast it to the abuse of the United Nations by members to sentence Israel whereas not condemning Hamas.
“It is a farce,” Bennett stated. “It isn’t in regards to the proof. It isn’t about info. It is about politics, and it is no secret that these worldwide organs are being utilized by Israel’s enemies repeatedly to try to tie our arms whereas we’re preventing in opposition to the worst jihad terrorists on this planet.”
A panel of three judges will evaluate ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for warrants for the 2 Israeli officers in addition to Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh and navy commander Mohammed Deif for his or her roles within the Oct. 7 assault.
Amal Clooney, who assisted Khan within the evaluation and submitting for arrest warrants, wrote in a press release on the Clooney Basis for Justice web site that investigators on a panel “unanimously conclude that there are cheap grounds to imagine that Hamas leaders … have dedicated warfare crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity, together with hostage-taking, homicide and crimes of sexual violence.”
Khan stated his workplace had additionally collected proof that supplied “cheap grounds” to imagine that Israeli officers “bear felony accountability for … warfare crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity dedicated on the territory of the State of Palestine.”
Khan cited alleged crimes of “hunger of civilians as a technique of warfare” and “internationally directing assaults in opposition to a civilian inhabitants.”
ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS INTERRUPT BLINKEN SENATE TESTIMONY, HAULED OUT BY CAPITOL POLICE
Netanyahu stated the ICC warrants for “fallacious” crimes are an instance of “what the brand new antisemitism seems like.” Bennett agreed with the evaluation, going even additional and calling it “anti-Zionism, anti-Israel, antisemitism.”
“We have to cope with it,” Bennett insisted. “We’re being accused of making an attempt to starve the Gazans, however once you have a look at the proof, we’ve let in 24,000 vehicles, 400,000 tons of meals and help. That’s 30% greater than earlier than Oct. 7.
“We’ve been bending over backwards to cut back civilian casualties whereas Hamas is doing the whole lot it will probably to extend civilian casualties, but Israel is being accused,” he added. “We totally reject this. We have to proceed and defeat Hamas. That’s one of the best response to all of this.”
Israeli warfare cupboard member and opposition chief Benny Gantz blasted the ICC’s announcement, saying “the prosecutor’s place to use for arrest warrants is in itself a criminal offense of historic proportion to be remembered for generations.”
President Biden soundly rejected the ICC’s effort to hunt warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant and reiterated that the U.S. doesn’t agree that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Bennett stated Israel has a “strong judicial system” which might assess and deal with any crimes dedicated by the Israeli Protection Forces (IDF) in Gaza, insisting that “we examine, and when vital, we prosecute.”
Israel just isn’t a member of the ICC, which implies that even when the court docket does challenge the warrants, Netanyahu and Gallant don’t face any speedy danger of prosecution, however the specter of arrest might create difficulties for the officers whereas touring overseas.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin after he ordered his forces to invade Ukraine in 2022. He has averted touring in international locations which are ICC members and signatories of the Rome Statute, similar to when he was the one chief within the BRICS bloc who didn’t attend a South African summit final yr.
South Africa had urged Putin to keep away from visiting the nation over fears that officers would discover themselves in a tough alternative between arresting an ally or ignoring the Rome Statutes.
The South African president’s workplace, nevertheless, issued a press release Tuesday applauding the choice to hunt arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas leaders, holding according to the nation’s marketing campaign to hunt felony punishment for Israel for its actions in Gaza, Reuters reported.
“The regulation should be utilized equally to all in an effort to uphold the worldwide rule of regulation, guarantee accountability for people who commit heinous crimes and shield the rights of victims,” President Cyril Ramaphosa’s workplace stated in a press release.
South Africa has led a court docket case introduced in opposition to Israel on the Worldwide Court docket of Justice accusing the nation and its leaders of committing genocide in Gaza, most not too long ago in search of an injunction to stop Israel from persevering with its operations within the territory.
Fox Information Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.