Arrest warrant puts Netanyahu in orbit of disgraced leaders

Arrest warrant puts Netanyahu in orbit of disgraced leaders

Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his defense minister for most of the Gaza war, became the first leaders of a Western-backed democratic country to be the subject of arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday. The decision, for their alleged responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza since the start of the war against Hamas in October 2023, puts them in the same league as Russian President Vladimir Putin and senior officials who planned the invasion of Ukraine; commanders of a Libyan militia for a case involving mass graves containing hundreds of corpses; dictators such as former Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir, or a warlord as cruel as Ugandan Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army. It is a symbolic blow to the image of the country, which also has an open case for alleged genocide at the Hague Tribunal and has seen its occupation and colonization of the West Bank and East Jerusalem declared illegal for decades. Now, the ICC’s double arrest request poses an individual dilemma for several of the 125 member states: whether to prioritize respect for the decision (they are technically obliged to do so, but it depends on their will, because there is no authority to impose it), or their alliance with Israel, with the consequent risk of being accused of double standards.

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