UPDATED: ICC chief prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Hamas leader and Netanyahu
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Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, told CNN that he is seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, among others, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Khan said the ICC is also seeking warrants for Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as two other top Hamas leaders — Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, the leader of the Al Qassem Brigades and better known as Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader.
The warrants against the Israeli politicians mark the first time the ICC has targeted the top leader of a close ally of the United States. The decision puts Netanyahu in the company of the Russian President Vladimir Putin, for who the ICC issued an arrest warrant over Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
Here are some reactions to the decision:
SAMI ABU ZUHRI, SENIOR HAMAS OFFICIAL
The decision “equates the victim with the executioner” and encourages Israel to continue its “war of extermination” in Gaza.
BENNY GANTZ, ISRAELI WAR CABINET MINISTER
“Drawing parallels between the leaders of a democratic country determined to defend itself from despicable terror to leaders of a blood-thirsty terror organisation (Hamas) is a deep distortion of justice and blatant moral bankruptcy.”
YAIR LAPID, ISRAELI OPPOSITION LEADER
The decision to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant is “a disaster”.
BEZALEL SMOTRICH, ISRAELI FINANCE MINISTER
The decision to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant is a “show of hypocrisy and Jew-hatred”.
“Arrest warrants against them are arrest warrants against us all.”
