The decision by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to seek arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “is beyond outrageous and shows the extent to which the international judicial system is in danger of collapsing, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Monday.
“Taken in bad faith, this one-sided move represents a unilateral political step that emboldens terrorists around the world, and violates all the basic rules of the court according to the principle of complementarity and other legal norms,” he said.
Herzog described Hamas as “oppressive dictators guilty of launching mass murder, mass rape and mass kidnappings of men, women, children and babies,” and stressed that “any attempt to draw parallels between these atrocious terrorists and a democratically-elected government of Israel working to fulfill its duty to defend and protect its citizens entirely in adherence to the principles of international law is outrageous and cannot be excepted by anyone.
“We will not forget who started this war, and who raped, butchered, burned, brutalized and kidnapped innocent citizens and families,” continued the president.
“We will not forget our hostages whose safe return should be the main concern of the international community. We expect all leaders in the free world to condemn outright this step and firmly reject it,” he said.
Earlier on Monday, ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan told CNN‘s Christiane Amanpour that the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant will include “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies [and] deliberately targeting civilians in conflict.”
Charges against Hamas terrorist leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, chief Ismail Haniyeh and Al-Qassam Brigades armed wing head Mohammed Deif will include “extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape and sexual assault in detention,” he said.
Israeli leaders rushed to defend the Jewish state, with Foreign Minister Israel Katz describing the move as an “unrestrained frontal assault on the victims of October 7 and our 128 hostages in Gaza.”
