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. He contends that the ICC is applying “false symmetry” in its application of the arrest warrants.
“He’s equating the democratically elected leaders of Israel with the terrorist tyrants of Hamas. That’s like saying, well, I’m issuing arrest warrants for FDR and Churchill but also for Hitler. Or I’m going to issue arrest warrants for George W. Bush but also for [Osama] bin Laden. That’s absurd,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli Prime Minister replied, “No, we have the same concerns. We were trying to get the aid in, we got the aid in, and Hamas was looting the aid.”
In a statement Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States rejects the ICC prosecutor’s announcement for arrest warrants for Netanyahu along with Sinwar, adding that there are “deeply troubling process questions.”
“We reject the Prosecutor’s equivalence of Israel with Hamas. It is shameful. Hamas is a brutal organization that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and is still holding dozens of innocent people hostage, including Americans,” Blinken said in the statement.
Biden also called the warrant request “outrageous” Monday and asserted that the U.S. “will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”
Newsweek reached out to the Biden campaign via email Tuesday afternoon for further comment.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican who has voiced support for Israel, criticized the ICC for seeking arrest warrants against Netanyahu and also suggested U.S. leaders could follow.
“Congress is reviewing all options, including sanctions, to punish the ICC and ensure its leadership faces consequences if they proceed. If the ICC is allowed to threaten Israeli leaders, ours could be next,” Johnson said Monday.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) was among the U.S. leaders who supported the ICC’s decision.
“The ICC prosecutor is right to take these actions. These arrest warrants may or may not be carried out, but it is imperative that the global community uphold international law, Sanders said in a statement. “Without these standards of decency and morality, this planet may rapidly descend into anarchy, never-ending wars, and barbarism.”
S”The ICC prosecutor is right to take these actions. These arrest warrants may or may not be carried out, but it is imperative that the global community uphold international law, Sanders said in a statement. “Without these standards of decency and morality, this planet may rapidly descend into anarchy, never-ending wars, and barbarism.”
A panel of three judges will now decide whether to issue the proposed arrest warrants. NBC News reported that such decisions usually take about two months.
Several European nations have already reacted. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday there was “no moral equivalence between a democratic state exercising its lawful right to self-defense and the terrorist group Hamas.”
If the panel grants Khan’s application and issues arrest warrants, 124 countries that have signed the ICC’s Rome Statute would be obligated to arrest the men and extradite them to The Hague, Netherlands, if they traveled internationally.
There are key exceptions to the treaty, including Israel, the United States and Russia. However, some of Israel’s closest allies, including Germany and the United Kingdom, have signed the Rome Statute, which was adopted by the ICC in 1998 and entered into force in 2002.
