BRUSSELS: European Union foreign policy chief on Thursday said that decisions of the International Criminal Court must be respected, including the arrest warrant against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We cannot undermine the International Criminal Court. It is the only way of having global justice,” Josep Borrell told reporters in Brussels.
Borrell, whose term as the EU’s top diplomat ends this month, added that all EU member states to respect the ICC decisions.
“They’re not political. It’s a legal body formed by respected people who are the best among the profession of judges,” he noted.
The ICC last week issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former defence chief Yoav Gallant for war crimes in the Gaza conflict. The ICC also issued warrants against Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri.
Issuing the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, the ICC said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe they bore “criminal responsibility” for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and crimes against humanity, including the lack of food, water, electricity, fuel, and specific medical supplies.
All EU member states are signatories to the ICC’s founding treaty, called the Rome Statute.
It is pertinent to mention that Josep Borrell, speaking at a workshop of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists in Cyprus last week, said that the ICC arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others are binding.
The British government had indicated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be arrested on an International Criminal Court arrest warrant if he travelled to the United Kingdom.
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Spain’s second Vice-President and Labor Minister Yolando Diaz had welcomed the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants expressing her country’s commitment to justice and international law. Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris also said Netanyahu would be arrested if he set foot in the country.
However, France believed Netanyahu had immunity to actions by the ICC, given Israel has not signed up to the court statutes.
According to the Gaza health ministry Israel’s war in Gaza has left 44,282 Palestinians dead and injured more than 104,880.
