World reacts to ICC prosecutor seeking arrest warrants for Israel and Hamas | Israel War in Gaza News

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has requested arrest warrants against top Israeli and Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said on Monday that his office had requested arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders for alleged crimes committed during the October 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel and the subsequent war in Israel. Israel in Gaza.

Khan announced that his office had “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant bear “criminal responsibility” for “war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

Khan also requested arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders – Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (also known as Deif) – for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Here are some reactions to the announcement:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Netanyahu said the ICC decision was a shame and an attack on Israel.

“I reject with disgust the Hague prosecutor’s comparison between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas,” Netanyahu said.

“With what audacity do you compare Hamas which murdered, burned, butchered, beheaded, raped and kidnapped our brothers and sisters, and the [Israeli army] soldiers fighting a just war?”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog

Herzog said that “any attempt to draw parallels between these atrocious terrorists and a democratically elected government of Israel – working to fulfill its duty to defend and protect its citizens entirely in accordance with the principles of international law – is outrageous and cannot be accepted by no one.” .”

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich

Smotrich compared the ICC prosecutor’s announcement about seeking arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials to Nazi propaganda.

“We have not seen such a display of hypocrisy and Jew-hatred as that of the Hague Tribunal since Nazi propaganda,” Smotrich said on X.

Hamas

Hamas denounced the ICC prosecutor’s decision to seek arrest warrants against its leaders, accusing Karim Khan of trying to “equate the victim with the executioner”.

The group said it demanded the cancellation of the request, adding that Khan’s request for arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant arrived “seven months late.”

The Government Media Office in Gaza welcomed the ICC’s decision to request arrest warrants for Israeli leaders and also denounced the decision to request warrants for Hamas leaders.

“We appreciate the decision of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for two Zionist war criminals,” begins a statement from the office.

“We see the issuance of these memoranda as a legal step in the right direction, even though they arrived late,” he continues.

The office also said that it “deplores the fact that this measure was accompanied by the issuing of similar decisions against some of the leaders of our people”, referring to requests for arrest warrants against several Hamas officials.

Wasel Abu Yousef, member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)

Youssef said the Palestinian people have the right to defend themselves.

“The ICC is obliged to issue arrest warrants against Israeli officials pursuing genocide crimes in the Gaza Strip,” he said.

Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative

Barghouti said the ICC measure affirms “that no one is immune from international law.”

“We consider this to be the first step towards condemning the crimes of genocide committed by Israel’s rulers and army against the Palestinian people in Gaza and holding them accountable for committing these crimes in accordance with international law and international humanitarian law,” he said. Barghouti in a statement.

Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib

Lahbib said any crimes committed in Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level.

“The request presented by the Court prosecutor, Karim Khan, for arrest warrants against Hamas and Israeli authorities is an important step in the investigation of the situation in Palestine,” she wrote in X.

“Belgium will continue to support the essential work of international justice to ensure that those responsible for all crimes are held accountable,” the minister added.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer

Chancellor Nehammer said Austria fully respects the independence of the ICC, but said the move to seek arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas officials at the same time was “incomprehensible.”

“However, the fact that the leader of the terrorist organization Hamas, whose stated objective is the extinction of the State of Israel, is mentioned in the same breath as the democratically elected representatives of that same State is incomprehensible,” he said.

Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala

“The proposal by the ICC Prosecutor General to issue an arrest warrant for representatives of a democratically elected government, together with the leaders of an Islamic terrorist organization, is appalling and completely unacceptable,” Fiala said.

“We must not forget that it was Hamas that attacked Israel in October and killed, injured and kidnapped thousands of innocent people. It was this completely unprovoked terrorist attack that led to the current war in Gaza and the suffering of civilians in Gaza, Israel and Lebanon.”

Spokesperson for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

The UK Prime Minister’s spokesman said the ICC ruling was “not helpful in relation to a pause in fighting, the removal of hostages or the entry of humanitarian aid”.

“The United Kingdom, like other countries, does not yet recognize Palestine as a State and Israel is not a State Party to the Rome Statute”, which describes the areas of jurisdiction of the ICC, the spokesperson added.

US President Joe Biden

In a statement, Biden called the arrest warrant request for Netanyahu and Gallant “outrageous.”

“Let me be clear: Whatever this prosecutor may suggest, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas,” he said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken

Blinken said in a statement that the United States rejects the ICC prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants for Israeli officials and Hamas.

He reiterated President Biden’s position and said: “We reject the prosecutor’s equivalence of Israel to Hamas.”

The UN special rapporteur on the right to housing

Rapporteur Balakrishnan Rajagopal welcomed the requests for a warrant for Khan’s arrest and said he believed the charges against the Israeli leaders would “likely remain.”

“At the request of the ICC prosecutor for warrants: against Hamas, the hostage-taking and murder charges will likely remain, but not others,” Rajagopal posted on X.

“Against Israeli leaders, all charges will likely be upheld. And the missing charges include attacks on various civilian objects, including houses!”

Human Rights Surveillance (HRW)

The international rights organization welcomed the ICC decision.

“Victims of serious abuse in Israel and Palestine have faced a wall of impunity for decades. This first principled step by the prosecutor opens the door for those responsible for the atrocities committed in recent months to answer for their actions in a fair trial,” said HRW.

“ICC member countries must be prepared to resolutely protect the independence of the ICC, as hostile pressure is likely to increase as ICC judges consider [Prosecutor Karim] Khan’s request.”