Experts acknowledge that the world has become smaller for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Thursday issued arrest warrants for him and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Galant, in a stunning move that has already divided Western nations over how to respond.

In a statement, the ICC ordered the two men to face charges of “crimes against humanity and war crimes” committed during more than a year of Israel’s brutal and devastating war on Gaza since the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, attacked the Gaza envelope area inside Israel on October 7, 2023, during which an estimated 44,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed, the overwhelming majority of them women and children, while Israel continues to prevent humanitarian aid from entering (Gaza) and continues to use starvation as a weapon against Palestinian civilians in the besieged Strip.

While Israel is not a member of the court, 124 countries are — from the UK and Germany to South Africa and the Seychelles. They would be legally obligated to arrest Netanyahu if he set foot on their territory, effectively making him a pariah in much of the world.

Netanyahu is the first world leader to face such a warrant since Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was indicted for allegedly kidnapping Ukrainian children last year and has since been forced to skip a number of international summits after host countries warned Moscow they would be obliged to detain him.

“The ICC warrant means that countries have to think twice before interacting with someone,” a US official told Politico. “In Putin’s case, we’ve seen it limit his ability to travel.”

Experts believe the move risks dividing Israel’s allies and partners, as the incoming US administration is already setting itself on a collision course with the court. In a post on social media, Michael Waltz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security adviser, said “the ICC has no credibility” and insisted that the allegations had already been disproven. He threatened retaliation, saying “you can expect a strong response to the anti-Semitic bias of the ICC and the UN on January 20th” when Trump takes office.

Meanwhile, Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham have said Washington might consider imposing consequences on countries that cooperate with the ruling. “If we don’t act forcefully against the ICC after its terrible decision … we are making a grave mistake,” he said. Even the Biden administration has rejected such a move, citing “procedural errors.”

For his part, Republican Senator Tom Cotton from Arkansas threatened to invade the Netherlands on behalf of the Israeli genocidal regime, since the Netherlands (where the Hague court is located) has made it clear that “we are obligated to cooperate with the International Criminal Court... We are 100 percent committed to the Rome Statute,” Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said on Thursday.

Cotton, one of the most prominent American politicians who has written for the Israeli lobby AIPAC, has implicitly threatened military action against the Netherlands if it complies with the arrest warrants it is legally required to comply with as a member state of the International Criminal Court.

“The ICC is a kangaroo court, and Karim Khan is a mentally ill fanatic. Woe to him and anyone who tries to enforce these outlaw orders,” Cotton said. “Let me remind them all in a friendly way: The U.S. law on the ICC is known as the Hague Invasion Act for a reason. Think about it.”

It is noteworthy that the United States itself is not a member of the court, and since 2002 it has maintained a policy of authorizing the president to use all necessary means to free any American or US ally who is dragged before its judges.

However, European countries that are part of the court's jurisdiction now face a dilemma, with the EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, telling a press conference that the arrest warrant "is not a political decision - it is a court decision," and according to him, "the court's decisions must be respected and implemented."

Meanwhile, a handful of countries, including NATO members France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Turkey, have pledged support for the ICC ruling and defended the court's independence.

However, according to Seth Frantzman, an adjunct fellow at the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based front for the Israel lobby, the arrest warrants will not change Netanyahu’s behavior.

“Israel’s leadership will obviously condemn this ruling, but it remains very focused on its war with Hamas,” Frantzman said. “The United States has been Israel’s closest ally for decades, and there is hope that the next administration will take the lead and encourage European countries to reject this ICC ruling.”