Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Freed From Traveling Abroad, But Risks Arrested By ICC Member States

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

JAKARTA - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can still travel abroad. But the risk is that Netanyahu could be arrested by a member state of the International Criminal Court (ICC) who issued a warrant for the arrest of a war crime.

Reported by Reuters on Thursday, November 21, the issuance of an ICC arrest warrant is not an official travel ban.

However, they are at risk of being arrested if they travel to the ICC signatory country, which may affect the decision making of individuals included in the arrest warrant.

There is no limit for political leaders, lawmakers, or diplomats to meet with individuals who have an ICC arrest warrant.

But politically, people's perceptions about this may be bad.

The ICC decision considers there to be reasonable reasons to believe that Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

The decision to issue an arrest warrant could also reinforce legal challenges demanding an arms embargo in other countries, as many countries have provisions prohibiting arms sales to countries that may use them in a way that violates international humanitarian law.

There are 124 ICC member states required by a court establishment law to arrest and hand over any individual subject to an ICC arrest warrant if the individual sets foot on their territory.

But courts have no way to make such arrests.

There is no police, so the arrest of the suspect must be carried out by a member state.

Sanctions for those who do not arrest someone even though there is already an arrest warrant that is nothing more than a diplomatic slap, such as handing over a country to an ICC regulatory body consisting of member states and finally to the UN security council.

ICC members cover all EU countries, UK, Canada, Japan, Brazil, and Australia.

In the Middle East region, Palestinian and Jordanian territories are members of the ICC. Israel is not a member country, nor is the United States.