After the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, revealed that he was subjected to pressure from world leaders to prevent him from issuing an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Minister of Defense Yoav Galant, there is great concern in the occupying state that arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court against them on charges of committing war crimes will be issued in the coming few weeks.

In this context, Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin, at Netanyahu's request, asked Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to open a criminal investigation against the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Yoav Galant in relation to the war in Gaza in an attempt to circumvent the pending request of the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against them, according to an Israeli television report.

Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu wants to open an investigation into the ongoing war and the management of the military campaign against Hamas and then close it, while providing an update to the International Criminal Court stating that Israel has investigated the allegations and therefore there is no need for the court to intervene.

According to the report, Baharav-Miara rejected the request on the grounds that it is a blatant ploy and will not satisfy the ICC. Baharav-Miara also stated that she has already declared that only a government commission of inquiry, the highest level of investigation in Israel, into the Hamas-led attack on October 7 and the subsequent war in Gaza will suffice.

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan called on the court’s Pre-Trial Chamber I to issue the arrest warrants he requested last May against Netanyahu and Galant “with the utmost urgency.”

In his memorandum, Khan said that the arrest warrants were necessary due to the “ongoing crimes” he cited in his initial request, and the “deteriorating situation in Palestine.” Netanyahu criticized the request, calling it a “moral disgrace of the highest order.”

“The comparison made by the prosecutor in The Hague between the prime minister and the Israeli defense minister, who are fighting the murderous terror of Hamas according to the laws of war, and the war criminal Sinwar, who is executing Israeli hostages in cold blood, is anti-Semitic in itself and a moral disgrace of the first order,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, we have seen from the beginning that the proceedings in The Hague are politically biased and have no professional legal basis,” the statement added.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Baharav-Miara warned Netanyahu that forming a government commission of inquiry is the best way to prevent arrest warrants from being issued against senior Israeli civilian and military officials.

In a letter, she warned that the window of opportunity to establish the commission before international bodies take any action is closing, according to the channel.

Khan had requested arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders in May on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes over Hamas’s attacks on October 7 and Israel’s military policies in its subsequent war against the movement.

But in July, the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I allowed other parties to submit submissions to the court on the case, including whether the ICC has jurisdiction over Israeli citizens.

In an interview with the BBC last Friday, Khan said he was under pressure from world leaders not to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galant, and said he had seen the evidence behind the decision to issue the warrant, in response to those who criticised his request.

Dozens of submissions have been submitted, followed by Khan’s response, and Pre-Trial Chamber I is now reviewing them and possibly examining the warrants against its jurisdiction, which has delayed the court’s decision on Khan’s request for arrest warrants.

Khan insisted that the arrests of Netanyahu and Galant were necessary to ensure that the individuals targeted by the warrants “do not impede or jeopardise the investigation or the court’s proceedings, and to prevent the continued commission of crimes and/or other crimes under the Rome Statute.” The prosecutor’s comments came as he withdrew his request to issue an arrest warrant for former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh after his assassination in Tehran last July.

In July and August, dozens of countries, academics and human rights groups filed legal briefs with the court regarding Khan’s decision to seek arrest warrants for Israeli leaders and Hamas.

In conclusion, Netanyahu has been on trial in an Israeli court for four years on charges of fraud, deception, breach of trust and bribery, and the question remains when he will also be tried in The Hague on charges of committing war crimes.

Sama