By Janet Ekstract NEW YORK- While the U.S. and Israel slammed the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) top prosecutor Karim Khan’s decision on Monday to file applications for arrest warrants for top Israeli officials and Hamas leaders – Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu labeled the move “anti-Semitic” while U.S. President Joe Biden supported Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas. The decision was made after overwhelming evidence was presented relating to war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed by both Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Israel. Those named in the warrants include Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh. Meanwhile, France and Belgium announced that they support the ICC decision and both countries released statements in support of the decision, late Monday. France’s Foreign Ministry stated: “France supports the International Criminal Court, its independence, and the fight against impunity in all situations.” Belgium’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Hadja Lahbib posted a comment on X: “Crimes committed in Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of the perpetrators,” later an official statement was released. Additionally, on Tuesday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said: “It is hoped that the ICC will uphold its objective and impartial position and exercise its powers in accordance with the law,” and called for an end to the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
Both Germany and Italy weighed in on the ICC decision with Germany’s Federal Foreign Office stating it “has always supported” the ICC while putting the sole blame on Hamas, adding: “The Israeli government has the right and the duty to protect and defend its population against this. It is clear that international humanitarian law and all its obligations apply.” Regarding Italy, the Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said it is “unacceptable” to equate Israel with Hamas who Tajani told a TV show is an “organization that is the cause of everything that is happening in the Middle East.” Media reports said that Netanyahu and Gallant don’t face imminent arrest at this time. Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, commenting on the ICC decision said that it was “ostensibly a legal frontline, but it is a strategic frontline, and it has implications across all sectors: military, diplomatic and economic.” Meanwhile, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) also known as the World Court (WC) delivered an order on January 26, 2024 for provisional measures, declaring that Palestinians had a right to be protected from acts of genocide. The ICJ ordered Israel to: “Iin view of the worsening conditions of life faced by Palestinians in Gaza, in particular the spread of famine and starvation”, to take “all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians throughout Gaza”.
Meanwhile, U.N. officials expressed their growing alarm regarding the dire humanitarian aid situation and the extraordinary difficulty of getting aid to those in Gaza who desperately need it. A senior official with the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Edem Wosomu told the U.N. Security Council on May 20 that there are woefully inadequate supplies and fuel to provide any real level of support to people in Gaza especially since the Rafah border crossing remains closed. Wosomu said: “We are running out of words to describe what is happening in Gaza. We have described it as a catastrophe, a nightmare, as hell on earth. It is all of these and worse.”
