The Israeli Foreign Ministry mistakenly issued a statement condemning the International Criminal Court’s issuance of arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Galant, even though the court has not yet issued such a decision.
The statement was briefly posted in English on the Foreign Ministry’s website before being deleted after being shared on social media, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which reported the news.
The court has been debating for four months the request of Attorney General Karim Khan to issue international arrest warrants against Netanyahu, Galant and officials in the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), but has not yet made a decision on the matter.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry official told Haaretz that the incident was a human error, but admitted that the ministry was preparing for the possibility of issuing arrest warrants soon, which prompted it to draft a statement of condemnation in advance, before adding that Israel did not know if or when the court would announce its decision.
Khan urges arrest warrants
Recently, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, renewed his request for the judges to urgently rule on the arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Galant, while stressing at the same time that the court has the right to prosecute Israeli citizens.
In a court filing published Friday, Khan urged judges considering arrest warrants for Israeli officials and leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas to make their decision quickly and without delay.
“Any unjustified delay in these proceedings negatively impacts the rights of victims,” Khan said, stressing that the court has jurisdiction over Israelis who commit atrocities in the Palestinian territories, and asking the court’s judges to reject appeals filed by dozens of governments and other parties.
“It is well established in law that the court has jurisdiction in this situation,” Khan said in his application to the court, rejecting legal arguments based on provisions in the Oslo Accords and Israel’s assertions that it is investigating allegations of war crimes.
ICC prosecutors say there are reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Galant bear criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
It is noteworthy that on May 20, Karim Khan requested the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Galant.
He also called for issuing an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and the commander-in-chief of the Qassam Brigades, Mohammed Deif, against the backdrop of the Al-Aqsa Flood attack launched by the Palestinian resistance against settlements and Israeli military sites on October 7 in response to the occupation’s violations against the Palestinians, Al-Aqsa, and the holy sites.