Czech foreign minister condemns ICC’s arrest warrant for Israeli PM

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský has expressed his strong disapproval of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to issue an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel.

FM Lipavský criticized the ICC’s actions, stating, “To put a terrorist and someone who defends his country on the same level, in my opinion, is a wrong decision. This lowers the credibility of the court that issued such arrest warrants,” Caliber.Az reports citing Russian media.

He emphasized that the Czech Republic will continue to uphold international law but rejected the ICC’s position in this particular case.

Additionally, Josep Borrell, the head of the European Union’s diplomatic service, stated that the European Union considers the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant to be binding.

Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and former defence minister.

A statement said a pre-trial chamber had rejected Israel’s challenges to the court’s jurisdiction and issued warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.

The judges said there were “reasonable grounds” they bore "criminal responsibility" for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war between Israel and Hamas. Both Israel and Hamas have rejected the allegations.

Prime Minister Netanyahu condemned the ICC’s decision as “antisemitic”, while Hamas said the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant had set an "important historical precedent".

The impact of these warrants will in part depend on whether the ICC’s 124 member states - which do not include Israel or its main ally, the United States - decide to enforce them or not.

The White House said the US rejected the ICC decision.

However, several European countries have said they respect the decisions of the court.

By Vafa Guliyeva