The International Criminal Court’s announcement to issue arrest warrants against a number of Israeli leaders regarding the aggression against Gaza sparked a state of anger within Tel Aviv, highlighting the consequences of this decision.

The court's prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced that they are seeking to issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Galant, and three Hamas leaders, on charges of committing "war crimes."

Khan added in a statement: “We have evidence that Netanyahu and Gallant bear criminal responsibility for war crimes in Palestine, including premeditated murder and starvation of civilians.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog considered that the Criminal Court Prosecutor’s efforts to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant were “more than outrageous” and would encourage “terrorists” all over the world, as he put it.

Herzog added, "Any attempt to compare these brutal terrorists with the democratically elected government of Israel, which works to fully fulfill its duty to defend and protect its citizens, while adhering to the principles of international law, is disgraceful and cannot be surpassed by anyone."

For his part, the extremist Israeli Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, threatened the International Criminal Court, while the extremist Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, called for ignoring it and escalating the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip for the eighth month.

How did Hamas respond to the ICC decision?

On the Palestinian level, the Hamas movement called on the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to issue arrest and detention orders against “all war criminals” from Israel’s leaders, and to cancel the arrest warrants against resistance leaders.

Hamas strongly denounced the attempts of the International Criminal Prosecutor to “equate the victim with the executioner” by issuing arrest warrants against a number of Palestinian resistance leaders “without a legal basis.”

It considered that the orders targeting the resistance leaders "contrary to the international conventions and resolutions that gave the Palestinian people and all the peoples of the world under occupation the right to resist the occupation, in all forms, including armed resistance."

In this context, Hamas added in its statement that “the (expectedly issued) arrest and detention warrants from the International Criminal Court against Israeli leaders came 7 months late after committing thousands of crimes against Palestinian civilians.”

It stressed that "the Public Prosecutor should have issued arrest and detention orders against all officials from the occupation leaders who gave orders, and soldiers who participated in committing crimes in accordance with Articles 25, 27 and 28 of the Rome Statute."

It stated that these articles of the Rome Statute, under which the court was established, “affirmed the individual criminal responsibility of every official, commander, or any person who ordered, urged, committed, assisted, or provided assistance to the commission of crimes, or failed to take measures to prevent the commission of crimes.” Crimes.

Arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Gallant on charges of committing war crimes

In turn, the lawyer, activist and human rights activist, Diala Shehadeh, explained that the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced the awaited step for years, specifically 15 years ago, the date of the first time the Palestinian Authority went to the court in order to investigate Israeli crimes occurring in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Speaking to Al-Arabi from Beirut, Shehadeh added that the International Criminal Court, specifically the judges, cannot consider any case unless the public prosecutor of this court requests it, that is, he requests that charges be brought against specific individuals under certain crimes, either with requests for voluntary appearance. , or requests to issue arrest warrants, if it is a settled matter that they will not appear voluntarily.

She continued that the Public Prosecutor of the Criminal Court spoke about memorandums that he requested to file charges and issue arrest warrants against 5 people, namely Netanyahu, Gallant, in addition to Sinwar, Haniyeh, and Deif, for various crimes, noting that these crimes intersect between the Israelis and Palestinians wanted under charges of mass murder.

Shehadeh said: “These charges are separated by charges such as taking civilian hostages directed at Palestinian leaders and intentionally targeting civilians in the context of an armed conflict, which are among the charges against wanted Israelis, in addition to charges related to allegations of crimes of a sexual nature such as rape and others directed at Palestinian leaders.”

What is the next stage?

Shehadeh explained that it is expected that in the next stage, that is, in the next few days or weeks, the pre-trial chambers, that is, the first stage of the court’s judicial chambers, will issue a decision to accept this request in terms of bringing charges and opening cases in these crimes against the people to whom charges are sought, It should also issue its decision regarding whether to accept the issuance of arrest warrants against these five people.

She continued, "After that, it will be up to the Registry to circulate arrest warrants to the states parties to the International Criminal Court, which have so far numbered 124 states."

She pointed out that the matter has escaped the hands of the Public Prosecutor today, and has become in the hands of the judges. The Prosecutor’s office in the court cannot reverse this procedure that it submitted today, but rather the procedures will take their natural course before the judges, before the Registry of the Court, and before the other agencies.

Do Israel's statements affect the court?

While she pointed out that the statements issued by either the Israeli side or by the Prosecutor of the Criminal Court will not change anything in the course of these procedures, Shehadeh added that the pressures on the International Criminal Court, specifically on its individuals, are not new.

She added that Israel's statements about its indifference to these procedures do not change anything, because jurisdiction is vested in crimes occurring in the occupied Palestinian territories, even if Israel is not a state party.

Is the international criminal ruling binding?

Shehadeh explained that any ruling issued by this court is binding even if the state is not a member of the International Criminal Convention, because the terms of the court’s contract are that its jurisdiction is territorial and applies to the territories in which the crimes allegedly committed occurred, noting that Palestine is subject to the court’s jurisdiction in accordance with the ratification of the declared State of Palestine. In 2021, as a non-full member state in the United Nations, this country officially ratified the Rome Convention establishing the International Criminal Court in 2015 and resolved the issue of jurisdiction.

She said: “Therefore, the issue of jurisdiction to convene it is a settled issue, but if the Israeli side wanted to interact with this procedure in a legal and civilized manner and not with threats and intimidation, it could represent lawyers before the International Criminal Court, and present a motive in terms of the inadmissibility of the procedure and claim that there is no jurisdiction, with It is impossible to accept such a defense based on previous experiences and legal readings that have filled the history of the International Criminal Court with regard to its jurisdiction.

What effect does the international criminal arrest warrant have on Netanyahu and Gallant?

Shehadeh pointed out that the arrest warrants are only waiting for a decision to be issued by the Pre-Trial Chambers in order to be circulated, and this means that Israeli officials, specifically Netanyahu and Gallant, will have their official diplomatic functions undermined, as they will no longer be able to visit almost all European countries and all Latin American countries, and half of them The countries of Africa and a number of other countries from the world that are state parties to this court.

Shehadeh pointed out that the court’s file is complete, because the reports of the United Nations and its agencies are full of criminal evidence proving that the occupying state and its leaders committed grave violations of international agreements amounting to genocide.

Since last October 7, Israel has launched an aggression against Gaza, resulting in tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing people amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.

In addition, Israel continues the war despite the issuance of a resolution by the UN Security Council to immediately stop the fighting, and also despite the International Court of Justice demanding immediate measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.