ICC warrants are binding, EU ‘cannot pick and choose’: Borrell

European Union governments cannot pick and choose whether to execute arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, the EU’s foreign policy chief said on Saturday.

The ICC issued the warrants on Thursday against the Israeli leaders due to the devastating war in Gaza for alleged crimes against humanity, as well as to Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri.

All EU member states are signatories to the ICC’s founding treaty, called the Rome Statute.

Several EU states have said they will meet their commitments under the statute if needed, but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has invited Netanyahu to visit his country, assuring him he would face no risks if he did so.

“The states that signed the Rome convention are obliged to implement the decision of the court. It’s not optional,” Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, said during a visit to Cyprus for a workshop of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists.

Those same obligations were also binding on countries aspiring to join the EU, he said.

“It would be very funny that the newcomers have an obligation that current members don’t fulfil,” he told Reuters.

The United States rejected the ICC’s decision and Israel said the ICC move was antisemitic.

“Every time someone disagrees with the policy of one Israeli government – (they are) being accused of antisemitism,” said Borrell, whose term as EU foreign policy chief ends this month.

“I have the right to criticise the decisions of the Israeli government, be it Mr Netanyahu or someone else, without being accused of antisemitism. This is not acceptable. That’s enough.”

Israel’s 13-month campaign in Gaza has killed about 44,000 Palestinians and displaced nearly all the enclave’s population while creating a humanitarian crisis, Gaza officials say.

In their decision, the ICC judges said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution and starvation as a weapon of war as part of a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza“.

The warrant for Masri lists charges of mass killings during the October 7, 2023, attacks. Israel says it has killed Masri.