Breaking: Court issues international arrest warrants against Israeli leaders - what you need to know

The ICC’s logic in issuing these arrest warrants could easily be applied to any IDF soldier, former soldier or reservist: which includes almost every citizen of Israel.

The International Criminal Court (the “ICC”), issued arrest warrants earlier today against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant, following a request last May by Prosecutor Karim Khan.

Photo: AI image for illustration only

Prosecutor Khan has accused Netanyahu and Galant of “war crimes” specifically, “deliberately depriving Gaza’s civilian population of essential goods, including food, water, electricity and medical supplies” as part of a “widespread and systematic attack against civilians.”

In fact, the claims are preposterous: Israel delivers Gaza with an average of 3,729 food trucks per month, representing an average of 3,374 kcal per person per day, almost double the needs of an average adult human. This data is from a detailed study by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (whose figures have been independently verified by RealityCheck). Similar data is available regarding fuel, water, medical supplies, and all other forms of humanitarian aid.

It is well known, including by UN sources, that Hamas (the internationally designated terror organization that rules Gaza) and other crime affiliates habitually steal much of the humanitarian aid that enters Gaza, as well as torturing and killing civilians who attempt to take aid for themselves. The heartbreaking images that flood out of Gaza are result of Hamas and other terror organizations abusing their civilian populations, all while stealing international aid resources to bolster their fighting forces in attacks against Israeli civilians. Meanwhile, 101 Israeli hostages remain in Hamas captivity, being starved, tortured and raped on an ongoing basis, and have not even received visits from the International Red Cross.

However, in this case truth is legally irrelevant: because ICC arrest warrants do not actually require proof.  Instead the prosecutor Karim Khan needs to provide only minimal evidence that his claims are reasonably possible, and furthermore, he gets to do so “ex parte”  - which means alone and without Israel having the opportunity to respond.

Much like the International Court of Justice (where South Africa is suing Israel for an equally absurd claim of “genocide”), the ICC is primarily a political body in the guise of a “court,”  and therefore, reality tends to be less persuasive than political interests. For this very reason, neither the United States nor Israel are members of the ICC, having never signed its founding charter, the Rome Statute.

Nonetheless, the Court “gave itself” jurisdiction over Israel under the following rationalle: the Rome Statute gives the ICC jurisdiction over matters that occur within any ICC member state. The ICC recognizes a “State of Palestine” and in 2015 accepted it as an ICC member, in violation of the Oslo Accords. Even though the “State of Palestine” does not have recognized borders, the ICC decided to unilaterally recognize Gaza and the West Bank as being “Palestinian territory,” and therefore subject to the ICC jurisdiction.

As of today, if Prime Minister Netanyahu or former Defense Minister Galant enter any of the 124 ICC member nations, they will be subject to arrest and deportation to The Hague to face trial and possible imprisonment for war crimes. In addition, any country that has a mutual extradition agreement with an ICC member (such as all 196 Interpol member states) may also potentially cooperate in making an arrest.

The ICC’s logic in issuing these arrest warrants could easily be applied to any IDF soldier, former soldier or reservist: which includes almost every citizen of Israel. While the ICC has not yet extended this precedent to other Israelis, the Court has today created the legal basis to do so, thus placing the entire state of Israel, and all its citizens, in existential danger.

Even more disturbing is that these arrest warrants became possible because U.S. President Joe Biden violated American law in support of the ICC.

Understanding that the ICC is not a true “court” but actually a political body that could be used as a weapon against the United States and its allies, Congress passed a bi-partisan law in 2002 called the American Servicemembers' Protection Act. The Act not only prohibits the United States from cooperating with the ICC but also obligates Washington to defend U.S. Servicemembers and also U.S. allies against the ICC. In this spirit, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill in June to levy sanctions on the ICC, its prosecutor, its judges and their families, however the White House publicly opposed the bill, causing it to die before even getting to the president’s desk.

Incoming Senate majority leader John Thune has already threatened the ICC with sanctions, and it is likely we will see more reactions from U.S. leadership in the coming days.