Tel Aviv [Israel]: Britain hinted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be arrested on the basis of an International Criminal Court warrant if he visits, and Ireland said it would definitely arrest him if he did, as per Times of Israel.
“The UK will always comply with its legal obligations as set out by domestic law and indeed international law,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said on Friday, as per Times of Israel. However, the spokesperson denied when asked about Netanyahu, and said, he would not “talk about specific cases.”
Earlier on Friday, Ireland’s Prime Minister Simon Harris said Netanyahu would be detained if he arrived there. Asked by state broadcaster RTE if Ireland would arrest the Israeli prime minister if he came to Ireland, Harris said: “Yes, absolutely,” as per Times of Israel. “We support international courts and we apply their warrants,” he added.
The Ireland-Israel relations went downhill after the former recognised the State of Palestine last May, causing Israel to spring to action and call their ambassador back, as per Times of Israel.
The ICC arrest warrant has several countries in splits on whether to uphold it or not.
Ireland’s Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said Friday he disagreed with US President Joe Biden’s depiction of the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant as “outrageous,” asserting that war crimes have been committed in Gaza. “It’s a collective punishment of the people… it’s genocidal,” he said, as per Times of Israel.
Canada, Belgium, Spain, Austria, Finland, Portugal, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Switzerland are among others of the 124 ICC member-countries that have said they will comply with the arrest warrants. Others, including Hungary, Czechia and Argentina, have said they will ignore them.
Hungary rejected the ICC decision to seek Netanyahu’s arrest for alleged war crimes in Gaza and invited him to make an official visit.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on Thursday issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of “crimes against humanity and war crimes.
“The charges include allegations of targeting civilians and enforcing policies of starvation in Gaza.Prime Minister Netanyahu condemned the “antisemitic” decision of the ICC in a statement on his social media program.