Labour government reportedly likely to drop Britain’s challenge to International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Gallant.
By World Israel News Staff
Britain’s new Labour government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer is likely to drop its predecessor’s challenge to arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against senior Israeli leaders earlier this year.
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.
Now, according to a report on Monday by The Guardian, Britain is poised to drop its objections to the arrest warrants issued for the Israeli leaders.
The ICC had set a July 12th deadline for Britain to provide documentation for its grievances against the arrest warrants.
While the previous Conservative government had objected to the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, the new Starmer government is expected to drop Britain’s challenge at the ICC, The Guardian reported.
Over the weekend, Starmer spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, emphasizing his government’s support for Palestinian statehood as an “undeniable right of Palestinians,” and the “clear and urgent need for a ceasefire” in Gaza.
A string of appointments of Israel critics to senior government positions has fueled fears among Israeli supporters in Britain that the new government will make good on promises by some of Labour’s more radical candidates, who pledged before last Thursday’s election that the party would, if elected, end arms sales to Israel.
Britain’s new Secretary of State for Justice, Shabana Mahmood, has a long history of anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian activism.
David Lammy, the new Foreign Secretary, has vowed to examine whether arms sales to Israel can be legally ended due to concerns over “international humanitarian law.”