The US and Brussels react after the ICC verdict. Netanyahu on “violation of natural law”

Netanyahu published a video on social media on Thursday evening in which he criticized the ICC's decision. He called it an “anti-Semitic move” intended to deter Israel from defending itself against its enemies who want to destroy the Jewish state. “This is a violation of the natural right of democracy to defend itself against murderous terrorism,” he said. Netanyahu said Israel “does not and will not recognize this outrageous decision that will not stop the state and him personally from defending the country in every way necessary.” “We will not give in to pressure,” he stressed.

“No matter what the ICC rules, there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas,” said the American president Joe Biden in a press release. “We will always stand by Israel in the face of threats to its security,” he added.

“The United States strongly rejects the ICC's decision to issue arrest warrants for high-ranking Israeli officials. We remain deeply concerned about the prosecutor's haste in seeking arrest warrants and the embarrassing procedural errors that led to this decision,” a spokesman for the Council told the media on Thursday. National Security. He added that the administration is currently discussing next steps on this matter with U.S. partner countries.

United States are not a party to the ICC, but Israel's supporters in the US Congress also reacted with outrage to the Court's decision on Thursday, calling for the imposition of sanctions against the Court.

“The International Criminal Court has no credibility, and these allegations have been refuted by the U.S. government. Israel legally defended its nation and borders against genocidal terrorists. A strong response to the anti-Semitic bias of the International Criminal Court and the United Nations can be expected in January,” the congressman said Mike Waltz, chosen by the president-elect Donald Trump as the next US National Security Advisor.

“If we do not take decisive action against the International Criminal Court after its scandalous decision to issue arrest warrants for the Prime Minister of Israel and the former Minister of Defense, we will have made a huge mistake. I am afraid that the United States will be next in line,” wrote Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on the X website. addressing current president Joe Biden and future president Donald Trump.

“The arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court regarding the Prime Minister of Israel, the former Israeli Minister of Defense and the leader of Hamas are binding on all states party to the Rome Statute, which includes all European Union member states,” the EU's foreign policy chief wrote on Thursday Josep Borrell on X

Ankara welcomed the ICC's decision.

“The arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galant are promising in terms of bringing justice,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan wrote on social media. He assessed that the ICC's decision is “an important step towards holding representatives of the Israeli authorities accountable.”

He also announced that Ankara “will continue to work to implement international law to ensure that those guilty of genocide are punished.” Fidan declared that “this is not only an obligation to the killed Palestinians, but also to all oppressed nations and future generations.”

International Criminal Court (MTK) in The Hague issued on Thursday arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Hamas commander Mohammed Deifaccusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the war in the Gaza Strip and the attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023.

SEE MORE: Arrest warrant for the Prime Minister of Israel. “The decision is not political”

The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber found that “there are reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Galant intentionally and knowingly deprived the people of the Gaza Strip of the necessities of survival, including food, water, medicines and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity,” it said. a decision taken unanimously by three judges of the Court.

The ICC therefore concluded that “there are grounds to believe that both politicians are responsible for war crimes of using starvation as a method of warfare and crimes against humanity in the form of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.” The court added that Netanyahu and Galant are also suspected of being responsible, as civilian superiors of the military, for committing the war crime of deliberately attacking the civilian population.

It was noted that the decision refers to Israel's actions during the war in the Gaza Strip in the period from October 8, 2023 to at least May 20, 2024, when the ICC prosecutor's office issued an application for an arrest warrant for Israeli politicians.

Israel does not recognize the ICC and, like, among others, USA or Russiadid not ratify the Rome Statute that founded it.

However, Palestine is a party to the treaty, and the ICC has decided that it can investigate alleged crimes committed in the Palestinian territories, including the lands occupied by Israel. He also noted that the formal doubts raised by Israel are premature at this stage and that the country will continue to have the right to question the jurisdiction of the ICC.