Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Israelis across the political divide lashed out at the International Criminal Court after it issued an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a rare display of unity in the politically polarised country.
The warrants allege the premier and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant bear responsibility for crimes against humanity and war crimes over Israel’s offensive in Gaza. It marks the first time the 22-year-old court has sought to arrest the leader of a western-backed country.
The move comes amid mounting international outrage over the toll of Israel’s 13-month offensive in Gaza. But while global reaction was mixed, in Israel it sparked outrage from Netanyahu’s allies and opponents alike over what was widely interpreted as an attack on the country’s right to defend itself.
Yair Lapid, head of the largest opposition grouping Yesh Atid, branded the warrants a “reward for terrorism”, while Benny Gantz, head of the centre-right National Unity party, condemned them as “moral blindness and [a] shameful stain of historic proportion that will never be forgotten”.
Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich suggested, respectively, that Israel should respond by annexing the occupied West Bank and imposing sanctions on the Palestinian Authority to force its collapse.
“[The court’s decision] is an unprecedented disgrace, but not at all surprising,” Ben-Gvir wrote on X. “The International Criminal Court in The Hague shows once again that it is antisemitic through and through.”
Netanyahu is one of the most divisive leaders in Israel’s history, hated by his opponents for everything from the failure to secure the release of hostages in Gaza to corruption scandals.
Yet the ICC’s announcement underscored the sense in Israel that much of the international community fails to understand the threat the country faces and draws a false equivalence between its military and Hamas.
Israel launched the offensive in response to Hamas’s October 7 attack, during which militants killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and took a further 250 hostage.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed about 44,000 people, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian officials, and fuelled a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the besieged strip.
Announcing its decision, the ICC said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant bear criminal responsibility for war crimes, including “starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.
The ICC also issued a warrant for Hamas leader Mohammed Deif over the October 7 attack, though Israel has already said he was killed in an air strike in July.
Netanyahu’s office branded the warrants against the prime minister and Gallant as “antisemitic” and said Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions and charges against it”, calling the ICC “a biased and discriminatory political body”.
There were rare voices of dissent within Israel, however. Ahmad Tibi, a lawmaker from Israel’s Arab minority, rejected the suggestion the ICC was motivated by antisemitism, posting pictures of the smouldering ruins of Gaza and desperate Palestinians queueing for food with the comment: “Antisemitism?”
The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, a fierce critic of Israeli policy towards Palestinians, said the issuing of the warrants marked “one of the lowest points in Israeli history”.
“B’Tselem and other organisations have warned for years that the Israeli apartheid regime inherently involves severe human rights violations,” it said in a statement. “During the past year, these violations have intensified to unimaginable dimensions.”
Israel has repeatedly denied committing apartheid or human rights violations.
Since the conflict erupted, however, the vast majority of Israelis — regardless of their feelings about Netanyahu — have staunchly supported the assaults in Gaza and against Hizbollah in Lebanon.
The mainstream media has aired little coverage of the ensuing devastation, while Israeli politicians have vociferously rejected criticisms of the soaring death toll and suggestions that the offensive has created a humanitarian crisis.
Ori, a 49-year-old from Tel Aviv, said that “whatever it takes to get rid of . . . Netanyahu will be good for our future” but called the decision to issue the warrants “disgraceful”.
Gabriel, a 39-year-old from Hod HaSharon, said the ICC would fail to enforce the warrants. “Them and what army?” he said. “And also — the notion is that the war in Gaza is a crime. I don’t understand what that means — what’s the criminal act being prosecuted here?”
He added: “They haven’t done anything to get buy-in or legitimacy from Israelis, so why should we take them seriously?”
Leave a Reply