Netanyahu arrest warrant

Minister demands West Bank annexation as revenge

Netanyahu would have to be arrested immediately when traveling to the EU.

(Bild: AFP/Jack GUEZ)

Murder, persecution, hunger as a weapon: the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The reactions in Israel were not long in coming. Parts of the government are calling for even more radical action. 

In an initial reaction, Netanyahu spoke of an "anti-Semitic decision". It was made by "biased judges driven by anti-Semitic hatred of Israel", according to a statement from his office. The move was absurd and Israel would not give in to the pressure and would continue to defend its citizens.

The ICC had lost all legitimacy, said Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar. The court had issued absurd orders without authority. Israel's President Isaac Herzog also described the arrest warrants as an absurd decision. "This is a dark day for justice. A dark day for humanity," he wrote on X.

Calls for annexation of the West Bank
Other parts of the Netanyahu government want to use the new dynamic for dark fantasies of omnipotence. Israel's far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir spoke out in favor of a complete annexation of the occupied West Bank in response to the arrest warrants.

The court is "anti-Semitic through and through", Ben-Gvir wrote on X. The police minister and also the far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich have repeatedly campaigned for an expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

The Islamist Hamas - whose leader was also targeted by the ICC - celebrates the arrest warrants as a historic step. The decision is an "important historical precedent and a correction of a long path of historical injustice against our people", Hamas announced.

The USA had tried for months to prevent the move against the two "terrorists" Netanyahu and had "terrorized" the court and its judges. Hamas called on the World Criminal Court to extend the investigations against "all criminal leaders of the occupation" to include ministers and officers who "shed the blood of our Palestinian people". Hamas did not comment on the arrest warrant against Mohammed Deif.

What happens now?
The ICC does not have its own police force to enforce its arrest warrants and is therefore dependent on the cooperation of the 124 member states, including Austria. They are theoretically obliged to arrest the wanted persons as soon as they are on their territory. This could make it more difficult for Netanyahu to travel to the EU, for example.

The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, called on all member states to respect the international arrest warrant against Netanyahu and other responsible persons. The ICC's decision is legally binding, said Borrell in the Jordanian capital Ammann. All EU states were "obliged as contracting parties to implement the court's decision".