Netanyahu said ICC warrants over Israel’s conduct in the Gaza Strip sets a « dangerous » precedent for other democratic countries.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an interview Tuesday afternoon with CNN’s Jake Tapper, continued to condemn the arrest warrant being sought against him by International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors.
Netanyahu said the warrants against himself and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the country’s conduct in its fight against Hamas in the Gaza Strip sets a « dangerous » precedent for other democratic countries, including Israel’s allies.
« Israel is given here a bum rap. I think it’s dangerous. Basically, it’s the first democracy being taken to the dock when it is doing exactly what democracies should be doing in an exemplary way, » he told Tapper. « It endangers all other democracies. Israel is first, but you’re next. Britain is next. Others are next, too. »
An ICC panel will consider chief prosecutor Karim Khan’s application for the arrest warrants, which also include Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders—Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, better known as Mohammed Deif, as well as Ismail Haniyeh.
The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant were laid out as « causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict. »
On October 7, 2023, Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history, killing some 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages. Israel then launched its heaviest airstrikes against Gaza. About half of the hostages were freed during a temporary ceasefire in November. More than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in the conflict, according to local health officials.
In his interview with Tapper, Netanyahu asserted that the ICC charges were « false, dangerous and outrageous, » and that Khan is « fanning the fires » of antisemitism.
