CrossFireArabia
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant continue to feel the heat as arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) are on the verge of being issued against them.
Netanyahu and Gallant held consultations, Thursday, with Israeli Attorney-General Gali Baharav Miara to see what can be done before such warrants are issued against them.
The ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan applied for the arrest warrants to be issued against Netanyahu and Gallant back in 21 May, having accused them of “crimes against humanity and war crimes,” in Gaza.
Since May the applications have been under review by an ICC panel of judges who must look at the evidence presented to them by Mr Khan and then sanction the issuance of the arrest warrants.
To circumvent this, the Israeli government wants to establish its own a commission of inquiry over its conduct of the war on Gaza. However, the Israeli Attorney-General is not certain whether such a commission would lead to the withdrawal of the arrest warrants.
On May 20, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan announced that the court is seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant on charges of committing war crimes.
Khan said at the time that “there are reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant bear criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity” committed in Palestinian territories in Gaza starting from at least Oct. 8 according to Anadolu.
If the arrest warrants are issues, which it seems certain they would, Netanyahu and Gallant would not be able to travel to any of the 124 countries which are members of the ICC without being taken into custody and face criminal prosecution.
While Israel doesn’t recognize the ICC that was established in 2002, nevertheless, the Israeli meeting on Thursday, shows that it is duly concerned because of the international ramifications of the arrest warrants and the criminal stain it would have on Israel and its politicians.
