Condemns Netanyahu's Arrest Letter, Israel Considers ICC To Give Gifts For Terrorism

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu/screenshot via Instagram @b.netanyahu

JAKARTA - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant against him and former defense minister Yoav Gallant. Netanyahu said the decision showed anti-judicial or anti-semit.

"Israel rejects the unreasonable and wrong actions that the ICC has committed against it," Netanyahu's office said.

Netanyahu is said to not be "turning over to pressure" in defending Israelis.

The Hague-based ICC said there was a plausible reason to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for hunger in Gaza and mistreatment of Palestinians after Israel launched its attacks on the coastal territories following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel.

The ICC arrest warrant is not a sign of shame for Israeli leaders but for the ICC itself, and its members, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett wrote in X.

Israel's main opposition leader Yair Lapid called the court's actions a "gift to terrorism".

Benny Gantz, who joined Netanyahu's war cabinet after the Hamas attack but resigned in June, denounced what he called the ICC's moral blindness'.

He called the decision an embarrassing stain in the proportion of history that would never be forgotten.