The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant for supposed war crimes committed in Gaza.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, who faces sexual misconduct allegations, brought the application for the warrants earlier this year, along with applications for warrants against Palestinian terrorists, all of whom have since been killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The Times of Israel reported:
In a massive legal bombshell, the International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, the first time the court has ever issued such warrants against leaders of a democratic country.
The three judges of the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I issue the warrants unanimously on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes that the court’s prosecutor Karim Khan alleges were committed during the prosecution of the current war against Hamas in Gaza.
Both Netanyahu and Gallant will be liable for arrest if they travel to any of the more than 120 countries that are party to the ICC.
Israelis reacted in outrage:
The ICC took action against Israel after President Joe Biden reversed President Donald Trump’s sanctions against ICC officials, which sought to protect the U.S. and its allies from malicious prosecutions.
Update: Netanyahu’s office issued a statement (translated from Hebrew by the Government Press Office):
The antisemitic decision of the International Criminal Court is a modern Dreyfus trial – and will end the same way.
Israel utterly rejects the false and absurd charges of the International Criminal Court, a biased and discriminatory political body.
No war is more just than the war Israel has been waging in Gaza since October 7th 2023, when the Hamas terrorist organization launched a murderous assault and perpetrated the largest massacre against the Jewish People since the Holocaust.
The decision to issue an arrest warrant against the Prime Minister was made by a corrupt chief prosecutor who is trying to save himself from sexual harassment accusations and biased judges who are motivated by antisemitic hatred of Israel.
The ICC prosecutor lied when he told American senators that he would take no action until he had visited Israel and heard its side.
Instead, he cancelled his arrival in Israel last May, several days after suspicions of sexual harassment were made against him, and announced his intention to issue arrest warrants against the Prime Minister and former Defense Minister.
No anti-Israel decision will prevent the State of Israel from defending its citizens.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not give in to pressure. He will continue to pursue all the objectives that Israel set out to achieve in its just war against Hamas and the Iranian axis of terror.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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