Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday accused the Palestinian Authority of waging “war” against the Jewish state, as he confirmed that International Criminal Court prosecutors had submitted a secret request for an arrest warrant against him.
“The prosecutor submitted a request for arrest warrants. Whether they will actually be issued or not, we do not know; they also do not want us to know; this is part of the tactic,” Smotrich told reporters at a press conference in Jerusalem.
“What is certain is that the Palestinian Authority and its people stand behind this entire process,” the senior Cabinet minister said. “They stand behind the legal warfare at the ICC and the International Court of Justice.”
Smotrich described the legal efforts against top Israeli officials at the ICC and ICJ as “not a diplomatic struggle and not a legal struggle,” but rather “a declaration of war by a hostile entity against the State of Israel.”
“This is a declaration of war against the State of Israel, and when war is waged against us, we must respond forcefully,” he declared.
As part of Jerusalem’s response, Smotrich said he would be signing a military order to immediately evacuate Khan al-Ahmar, a Judean Desert site where Palestinian Bedouin have illegally erected buildings and dwellings. Jerusalem has sought for years to relocate the community, which is located in the strategic E1 corridor between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim.
Immediately following the press conference, Smotrich’s office published a letter in which he instructed Hillel Roth, his representative in the Israeli Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration, to take “all necessary measures” to carry out the evacuation as soon as possible.
“I promise all our enemies: This is only the beginning,” Smotrich said in his remarks at the press conference.
“From today onward, every economic or other target I can act against within my authority as finance minister or as a minister in the Defense Ministry will be targeted—not with words and gimmicks, but with actions,” he added.
Israel’s Channel 12 News broadcaster reported on Monday that in addition to Smotrich, ICC prosecutors were also considering secret arrest warrants against Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The report said Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and his predecessor, Herzi Halevi, were also under scrutiny by the Office of the Prosecutor.
In 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant in connection to the war against Hamas in Gaza, which was started by the terrorists’ invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
After U.S. President Donald Trump’s reelection, Washington slapped sanctions on Feb. 6, 2025, against four ICC judges for investigating U.S. citizens and U.S. allies.
