‘Moral disgrace’: ICC prosecutor demands ‘urgent’ arrest of Netanyahu, Sinwar

Netanyahu criticized the renewed call for his arrest as “a moral disgrace of the first order.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan demanded that the court issue arrest warrants he requested in May for Israeli government ministers and Hamas leaders “with the utmost urgency.”

In May, Karim Khan requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and October 7th mastermind Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Deif on the charge of war crimes.

The warrants Karim sought have been delayed as the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I allowed other parties to submit amicus briefs on whether or not arresting Israeli nationals was within the ICC’s jurisdiction.

Karim Khan restated his request for the arrest warrants on Monday, saying that they were needed right away due to “ongoing criminality” and “the worsening situation in Palestine.”

“The prosecution respectfully requests that the Chamber issue its decision on the applications for the warrants of arrest against Yahya Sinwar, [Mohammed] Deif, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Yoav Gallant with utmost urgency,” Khan said.

He added the arrests were essential to ensure that the subjects “do not obstruct or endanger the investigation or court proceedings, prevent the continuing commission of the crimes alleged and the commission of other Rome Statute crimes.”

Khan revoked his request for the arrest of Ismail Haniyeh after the Hamas leader was assassinated in Tehran in July, but did not withdraw his request for the arrest of Hamas’ Mohammed Deif, despite Israel’s claim that the senior Hamas military commander in Gaza was eliminated.

Netanyahu criticized the renewed call for the arrests as “a moral disgrace of the first order.”

He added that “The comparison made by the prosecutor in The Hague between the prime minister and the defense minister of Israel, which fights the murderous terrorism of Hamas according to the laws of war; and the war criminal Sinwar, who executes Israeli hostages in cold blood; is antisemitism for its own sake and moral disgrace of the first order,” says a statement from Netanyahu’s office.

“Unfortunately, we saw from the beginning that the processes in The Hague are politically biased and do not rest on any professional legal basis,” the PMO said.