FALCON POWERS – In response to the decision by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, senior Israeli officials quickly reacted, describing the decision as “disgraceful and hypocritical,” according to Israeli media reports.
The Israeli Channel 12 reported that senior Israeli officials said “the Prosecutor’s decision is disgraceful and hypocritical.” The channel added that the “accusations against Netanyahu and Gallant” are “the intentional targeting of civilians during the war, causing genocide, and using starvation as a method of warfare.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli Channel 13 quoted a source close to Netanyahu saying that “the issuance of the arrest warrants will be a global stain of disgrace.”
Channel 13 also reported that legal experts from the Ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs met to discuss the International Criminal Court’s intention to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.
In the statement issued by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, regarding the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, it stated that “based on the evidence collected and examined by my office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav Gallant, Minister of Defense of Israel, bear criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza Strip) since at least 8 October 2023:
- Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, as a war crime under article 8(2)(b)(25) of the Rome Statute;
- Intentionally causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, as a war crime under article 8(2)(a)(3), or cruel treatment as a war crime under article 8(2)(c)(i);
- Willful killing, as a war crime under article 8(2)(a)(i), or murder as a war crime under article 8(2)(c)(i);
- Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population, as a war crime under article 8(2)(b)(i) or 8(2)(e)(i);
- Extermination and/or murder, including through the deprivation of food, as crimes against humanity under articles 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(a);
- Persecution as a crime against humanity under article 7(1)(h);
- Other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity under article 7(1)(k).”
