TRANSCRIPT
Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has accused senior leadership of both Israel and Hamas with numerous war crimes and has applied for warrants for their arrests.
In a decision that has stunned Israel and its allies, Mr Khan announced a long list of war crime charges he is pursuing against Israel's prime minister and defence minister.
“I can also confirm that I have reasonable grounds to believe on the basis of evidence collected and examined by my office that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant bear criminal responsibility for the following international crimes committed on the territory of the state of Palestine: starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, willfully causing great suffering, serious injury to body or health or cruel treatment, willful killing or murder, and intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as well as crimes against humanity of extermination and or murder, persecution and allegations of crimes of committing other inhumane acts.”
This comes as Israel pushes on with its assault on Gaza which has so far taken the lives of over 35,500 Palestinians according to local health officials.
Three arrest warrants were also issued for Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, commander-in-chief of Hamas' militant-wing Mohammed Al-Masri, and the head of Hamas' Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh.
The Hamas leaders face allegations of bearing responsibility for crimes committed by Hamas militants including extermination and murder, the taking of hostages, torture, rape and other acts of sexual violence.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri denounced the prosecutor's decision claiming it "equates the victim with the executioner".
ICC judges will now consider the chief prosecutor's applications to determine whether the arrest warrants are to be formally issued.
This process may take weeks or even months.
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pre-empted the ICC's announcement with a statement condemning the court last month, he again repeated his outrage at being listed along with the names of Israel's sworn enemies.
“The outrageous decision by the ICC prosecutor Karim Khan to seek arrest warrants against the democratically elected leaders of Israel is a moral outrage of historic proportions. It will cast an everlasting mark of shame on the international court. Israel is waging a just war against Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization. Hamas massacred 1200 Jews, took hundreds hostage. Now, in the face of these horrors, Mr Khan creates a twisted and false moral equivalence between the leaders of Israel and the henchmen of Hamas.”
United States President Joe Biden has issued a statement agreeing with Mr Netanyahu, calling the International Criminal Court's claims "outrageous" and saying "there is no equivalence...between Israel and Hamas.
As Israel has refused to be a member state of the ICC, even if the arrest warrants are issued, Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution.
This is similar to the situation of Russian President Vladimir Putin who currently has a warrant against him for alleged crimes in Russia's invasion of Ukraine but faces no immediate threat.
But Middle East analyst Mouin Rabbani told independent news program Democracy Now! that the announcement deepens Israel’s isolation from the international community and the threat of arrest could make it difficult for the Israeli leaders to travel abroad.
“Assuming again that the arrest warrants are indeed issued, it will have more effect on Israel, I think, than on Hamas. It's Israeli leaders who will need to travel, where they would face the prospect of arrest, and I think this also puts other countries in the dock. They now have to make a choice between Israeli impunity and their obligations under the wrong statute, at least those who are members of the International Criminal Court. In broader political terms, this is of massive significance. This means that Israel's leaders are indicted war criminals.”
While the ICC Chief Prosecutor's allegations against Israeli leaders have been broadly condemned by Israelis and pro-Israel allies, charges against Hamas have also been controversial for some Palestinians.
Mohammad Abdel-Al, who has been displaced from his home by Israel's assault on Gaza, says he despises the equivalence drawn between Israeli violence and what he considers to be resistance against Israeli occupation.
“How can Hamas be a war criminal when we are the ones occupied? The ones who are defending their land - are they considered war criminals? Those who should be punished are America and Israel. Israel occupied us in '48. So if someone comes into my house, am I not to defend myself? I am supposed to defend myself with all resources God created in this world- with weapons, with peace - I should take what is mine. The ICC is aligned with the occupation and aligned with America.”
A member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation in the Occupied West Bank, Wasel Abu Youssef, warns that the I-C-C should not use double standards with Israel, suggesting the court has been quicker to act in other international cases.
Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan has defended his decision to prosecute both Israeli and Hamas figures in an interview with CNN.
“This is a moment when we see in the shadow of Ukraine, an increasing cacophony of noise, of double standards and selectivity. And what we're trying to do is not go with a tide of emotion, but be guided by evidence. And it's about the equal application of the law. Every human life, every baby that is killed, whether it's a baby that's cruelly abducted by Hamas and killed, or a baby that's been bombed, or killed, or has died in incubators because of no electricity or water or food in Gaza for them - for their families and humanity, it's a tragedy.”
Mr Khan's applications come after a group of 12 Republican US senators sent a letter to him on April 24 threatening repercussions if the court were to issue arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.
In his statement Mr Khan appeared to target these senators as well as any other political actors seeking to intimidate or influence the ICC.
“I insist that all attempts to impede, to intimidate or to improperly influence the officials of this court cease immediately. My office will not hesitate to act pursuant to the provisions of Article 70 of the Rome statute if such conduct continues and persists.”
Article 70 of the Rome Statue indicates that the ICC has the jurisdiction to pursue a conviction of those who seek to intimidate the court and impose a term of imprisonment not exceeding five years, or a fine.
However, the U- is not subject to the court's rulings as it is one of only a few countries along with Israel, Russia and Sudan who signed the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, but have now stated they refuse to ratify it.
Following Mr Khan's charges against the Israeli leaders, U-S Republican Senator Tom Cotton wrote on X that he was looking forward to making sure that "neither Khan, his associates nor their families will ever set foot again in the United States."
