The International Criminal Court, established more than two decades ago to bring justice to war criminals, issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant. The ICC stated the warrants were issued for “crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least” Oct. 8, 2023 “until at least” May 20, 2024,” which is when ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan first said he was going to seek arrest warrants. Allegedly, the crimes Israel committed in Gaza include “starvation as a method of warfare” and “the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.” Netanyahu is the first leader of a modern Western democracy that the ICC has pursued action against.
At the same time, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Mohammed Deif, leader of the military wing of Hamas—a designated foreign terrorist organization—who helped lead the Oct. 7 massacre. Israel said it killed Deif in a July airstrike.
In charging a Hamas commander alongside two leaders from the only democracy in the Middle East, the ICC is equating their actions, which is despicable. After the worst massacre of the Jews since the Holocaust on Oct. 7, 2023, in which Hamas raped women, murdered more than 1,200 people and took 200-plus hostages into the Gaza Strip, Israel had no choice but to defend itself and go after the terrorists before they caused even more destruction.
Hamas was unprovoked when it attacked; there was a ceasefire on Oct. 6. They dragged Israel into a war that it did not want. Now, bad actors like the judges at the ICC are ignoring this crucial fact and distorting the reality on the ground in Gaza.
They chose to ignore the fact that Israel is conducting one of the most humane wars in history, if not the most humane. John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, N.Y., acknowledged this in a March article for Newsweek, writing, “In my long career studying and advising on urban warfare for the U.S. military, I’ve never known an army to take such measures to attend to the enemy’s civilian population, especially while simultaneously combating the enemy in the very same buildings. In fact, by my analysis, Israel has implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history—above and beyond what international law requires.”
The ICC is outright lying when it says that Israel is intentionally starving the citizens of Gaza when, in reality, it’s let in 900 kilotons of food over the past year. Hamas, on the other hand, steals the humanitarian aid trucks and doesn’t care if Gazans starve. And while Israel drops leaflets and sends warnings to Gazans when there is going to be an airstrike or a bombing, Hamas uses human shields to increase the number of casualties. If Israel were truly committing war crimes or genocide, the population of Gaza would be shrinking, when, in fact, it grew by 2.88%, or 22,000-plus people, in the last year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the ICC arrest warrants antisemitic, stating that what’s happening is a “modern Dreyfus trial,” a reference to the French army officer who was accused of treason. It’s no surprise that countries like Spain and Ireland, which recognized Palestine as a sovereign state, are now saying that they would uphold the ICC’s ruling and arrest Netanyahu should he visit their countries.
The moral dishonesty perpetrated by the ICC shows how biased and illegitimate it is. While other war crimes happen around the world—like Turkey cutting off water and electricity last month to more than 1 million people in Syria—the ICC chooses to hurl false accusations at the world’s only Jewish state and show its true colors as Jew-haters.
Thankfully, in the United States, there has been bipartisan support for Israel and condemnation of the ICC’s decision across the board. A White House spokesperson said that the United States “fundamentally rejects the court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials.” Staunch Israel supporter Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) came to Israel’s defense on X, as did Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), who wrote that the ICC is a “kangaroo court” which “cannot let facts get in the way of its ideological crusade against the Jewish State.” Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), who is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security adviser, stated, “Israel has lawfully defended its people & borders from genocidal terrorists. You can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC & U.N. come January.”
It’s clear that the ICC is a sham, and this ruling should not be taken seriously. In the meantime, Israel will keep defending itself until Hamas is destroyed, its hostages are home, and its citizens are safe once again—as it rightfully should.