Now the fallout of seeking arrest warrants
Hamas demands ICC arrest warrant request against leaders be cancelled
Hamas has issued a statement denouncing 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 application for arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant had come “seven months too late”.
The group has also called on the ICC prosecutor to issue arrest warrants “for all the Israeli officials who gave orders and the soldiers who carried out crimes, in accordance with the Rome Statute”.
“The prosecutor is acting in violation of all norms that allow for people under occupation, including Palestinians, to resist their occupier,” Hamas’s statement said.
Right of resistance isn't a blank check for indiscriminate killing nor is self-defense. War crimes are war crimes. But I do agree, there are far more Israeli head figures responsible for the ongoing war crimes. At the very least the entire war cabinet should be included.
However the ICC works slow, remember the first appeal was in Januari 2015
https://www.icc-cpi.int/victims/state-palestine
On 1 January 2015, the Government of Palestine ("Palestine") lodged a declaration under article 12(3) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (“Rome Statute” and “Court” or “ICC”) accepting the jurisdiction of the Court over alleged crimes committed "in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, since June 13, 2014". On 2 January 2015, Palestine acceded to the Rome Statute by depositing its instrument of accession with the UN Secretary-General. The Rome Statute entered into force for Palestine on 1 April 2015.
On 22 May 2018, pursuant to articles 13(a) and 14 of the Rome Statute, Palestine referred the Situation in Palestine for investigation by the Office of the Prosecutor and specifically requested the Prosecutor “to investigate, in accordance with the temporal jurisdiction of the Court, past, ongoing and future crimes within the court's jurisdiction, committed in all parts of the territory of the State of Palestine”, specifying that “[t]he State of Palestine comprises the Palestinian Territory occupied in 1967 by Israel, as defined by the 1949 Armistice Line, [which] includes the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip”
It took the ICC until 2021 to start on the case, after finally establishing it had jurisdiction
On 3 March 2021, the Office of the Prosecutor announced that the investigation will cover crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court that are alleged to have been committed in the Situation since 13 June 2014.
Israeli president slams ICC prosecutor’s move
Isaac Herzog has called Khan’s announcement “beyond outrageous” and argued that it shows “the extent to which the international judicial system is in danger of collapsing”.
The Israeli president alleged the ICC prosecutor had acted in “bad faith” and his decision violated “all the basic rules of the court according to the principle of complementarity and other legal norms”.
Netanyahu rejects ‘with disgust’ ICC prosecutor’s request for arrest warrant
Netanyahu says the decision of the ICC prosecutor to seek an arrest warrant against him is absurd and the move is meant to target all of Israel.
“I reject with disgust the comparison of the prosecutor in The Hague between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas,” Netanyahu said.
“With what audacity do you compare Hamas that murdered, burned, butchered, decapitated, raped and kidnapped our brothers and sisters and the [Israeli] soldiers fighting a just war?” he asked.
