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New UK government won’t back Netanyahu arrest warrant – report

Labour government reportedly pledges to Israel not to withdraw amicus curiae challenging International Criminal Court chief prosecutor’s arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Israel’s defense minister.

By World Israel News Staff

Britain’s new Labour government will not withdraw its predecessor’s challenge to the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for two senior Israeli leaders, Ma’ariv reported Monday afternoon.

In May, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan, a British national, revealed to CNN that his office had filed arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three senior Hamas leaders, charging all five with war crimes in the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas terror organization.

Shortly afterwards, Britain’s Conservative government filed an amicus curiae brief with the ICC, arguing that Khan’s warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant were invalid, as the court did not have jurisdiction in the case.

Last Monday, however, The Guardian reported that following Labour’s landslide victory in the July 4th elections, the new government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer was likely to drop its predecessor’s challenge to the ICC arrest warrants.

But according to the Ma’ariv report, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has given Israeli President Isaac Herzog his assurances that the UK’s brief against the warrants will not be withdrawn.

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Lammy met with Herzog Monday morning at the President’s Residence, where the two spoke with the family of Tamir Adar, an Israeli civilian from the border town of Kibbutz Oz who was murdered by Hamas terrorists and whose body is being held by the in Gaza Strip.

During the meeting with Herzog, Lammy emphasized his government’s support for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the return of Israeli hostages, and implementation of the two-state solution with the establishment of a Palestinian state.

“I come back, very conscious of the trauma of October 7th, and very conscious of the pain and anguish that many hostage families are experiencing and the nation is experiencing,” Lammy said.

“I hope too, that we see a ceasefire soon, and we bring an alleviation to the suffering and the intolerable loss of life that we’re now seeing also in Gaza.”