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UK flipflops on Netanyahu arrest, now poised to withdraw objection – report

Britain’s new Labour government has reportedly flipflopped on the ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Gallant – and will not back the warrants.

By World Israel News Staff

Britain’s new Labour government is now poised to withdraw its objections to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, two sources claim, marking a reversal by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

According to a report by The New York Times on Thursday, two people briefed on recent British government deliberations on the subject said that the Starmer government will drop Britain’s objections to ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan’s arrest warrants issued for Netanyahu and Gallant.

If confirmed, the decision marks a dramatic departure from previous U.K. policy, which Britain’s new foreign affairs chief, David Lammy, vowed to continue in a conversation with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Ma’ariv reported.

In May, Khan, a British national, announced that his office had filed arrest warrants against Netanyahu, 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.

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Following Labour’s  landslide victory in the July 4th elections, The Guardian reported that the new government was likely to drop its predecessor’s challenge to the ICC arrest warrants.

Days later, however, Ma’ariv reported that Foreign Secretary Lammy had given President Herzog his assurances that the U.K.’s brief against the warrants will not be withdrawn.

Lammy met with Herzog in Jerusalem, 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.