In a video assertion that he issued in Hebrew for his home viewers on Monday, Mr. Netanyahu stated that the “absurd and mendacious warrant” sought by Mr. Khan in The Hague was “directed not solely towards the prime minister of Israel and the protection minister however towards all the state of Israel. It’s directed towards the I.D.F. troopers, who’re combating with supreme heroism towards the vile Hamas murderers.”
He stated that Mr. Khan’s actions wouldn’t cease Israel from waging its “simply struggle” towards Hamas till it was gained.
For Mr. Netanyahu, the I.C.C. is “one of the best opponent he might ask for with a purpose to impress assist,” stated Mitchell Barak, an Israeli pollster and analyst who labored as an aide to Mr. Netanyahu within the Nineteen Nineties. Many Israelis already seen the I.C.C. as hostile towards Israel, Mr. Barak stated, and the truth that it didn’t try and adjudicate the function of Hamas till now, he stated, added to Israeli antipathy towards the court docket.
However in the long run, Mr. Netanyahu’s try and tie his destiny to that of all Israelis might backfire, some analysts stated.
Israel is just not a member of the I.C.C. and doesn’t acknowledge its jurisdiction in Israel or Gaza, which means that if the court docket’s judges did concern warrants, Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant would face no threat of arrest at house. They might, nonetheless, be arrested in the event that they had been to journey to one of many court docket’s 124 member nations, which embody most European nations however not america.
In a single troubling signal for Israel, France, an ally, didn’t condemn the chief prosecutor’s request for warrants towards Israeli leaders, because the Biden administration did, or distance itself, like Britain.
As a substitute, the French authorities expressed assist for the I.C.C. and its independence, saying in a press release that France had warned Israel for months about its obligation to respect worldwide humanitarian regulation, notably concerning the “unacceptable” lack of civilian lives in Gaza and inadequate humanitarian entry.
In the end, argued Mr. Caspit, the Netanyahu critic and biographer, Israelis will see that Mr. Netanyahu’s management “doesn’t assist, however harms Israel.” The request for warrants displays Israel’s gradual slide into turning into a “pariah state,” Mr. Caspit stated, making it weak to worldwide embargoes and boycotts.
Mr. Khan additionally implicitly criticized Israel’s once-respected judicial system, saying that the I.C.C. was pressured to behave solely when a rustic’s prosecutors failed to carry its personal residents to account.
“In brief, Israel is slowly shedding its standing as a liberal democracy whose judicial system could be relied on,” Mr. Caspit stated. “That ought to fear all of us.”
Any renewed assist for Mr. Netanyahu would quickly wane, he added, if, for instance, the authorized course of had been expanded to incorporate troopers and “Israelis perceive it is not going to solely endanger Netanyahu’s journeys to Europe, but additionally their very own.”
