Israel Today

Hague court rejects Israeli request to vacate warrants, suspend investigation of Netanyahu, Gallant

It said Israel must investigate its prime minister and former defense minister before the International Criminal Court will consider Jerusalem’s request to call off its prosecution of “genocide” in Gaza.

(JNS) The International Criminal Court, an independent court in The Hague that is not part of the United Nations, said on Wednesday that it rejected Israel’s request that it withdraw or vacate the arrest warrants it sought for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant.

The Jewish state has also asked the court to suspend its investigation of alleged war crimes in Gaza until it first settles the question of whether or not it has jurisdiction to do so. Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute, which created the International Criminal Court.

The court also dismissed that request in a decision its pre-trial chamber published on Wednesday.

“There is no legal basis for withdrawing, vacating or declaring them of no force or effect at this point in time,” the court said of the warrants. “The impact of Israel’s jurisdiction challenge on the warrants, if any, is something that can only be determined when the chamber will have ruled on the substance thereof.”

The ICC Appeals Chamber ruled in April that the pre-trial chamber needs to review Israel’s challenge to the court’s jurisdiction. As a result, Israel has said that the ICC hasn’t clearly proven jurisdiction and that the arrest warrants are therefore not legal.

The pre-trial chamber said in Wednesday’s ruling that the mere act of reviewing their prior decision does not invalidate the warrants.

South Africa brought allegations of “genocide” and other crimes against humanity against Israel due to the Jewish state’s efforts to defeat Hamas militarily in the Gaza Strip following the terror group’s massacre of 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the kidnapping of 250 others in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Concerning challenging the case’s admissibility, the pre-trial chamber ruled that the Jewish state, at a minimum, would need to initiate its own internal investigation of Netanyahu and Gallant for the court to consider suspending the case.

“When a state challenges admissibility, it does so on the basis of the claim that it is itself investigating or prosecuting the case,” it said. “Until the question of admissibility is resolved, there will thus be two parallel investigations or prosecutions: one before the court and one before the national authorities.”

Last month, Washington sanctioned two of the three pre-trial chamber judges involved in Wednesday’s decision for signing off on the warrants, which were requested by the court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan.

Khan is on a leave of absence pending an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, including allegedly trying to stop a victim from coming forward by saying that it would harm his prosecution of Israel.

He was previously sanctioned by Washington for requesting the arrests of Netanyahu and Gallant. According to reports, the sanctions significantly hampered both his work and that of the court.