Foreign Secretary David Lammy has not responded to the war crime allegations against Israel’s leaders despite immediately doing so when the ICC issued warrants for Russian President Putin [GETTY]
The British government clarified its position on the arrest warrants issued by the world’s top criminal court for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant by suggesting that it would arrest the leaders if they travelled to Britain.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on Thursday that it had issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the Gaza war, as well as for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif who is believed to have been killed by Israel.
In a major indictment for a Western ally, Netanyahu and Gallant now face possible arrest if they travel to one of the 124 member states which recognises the ICC’s jurisdiction, which includes the UK, but not the United States.
While there has been no direct statement from Prime Minister Keir Starmer, his spokesperson said on Friday that Downing Street supports the ICC, while reiterating calls to focus on a pushing for a ceasefire to end the violence in Gaza.
The spokesman evaded answering whether UK authorities would detain Netanyahu, telling reporters he would not “get into hypotheticals in relation to individual cases”.
But he added: “The UK will always comply with its legal obligations as set out by domestic law and indeed international law.”
“We would obviously fulfil our obligations under the act,” added Starmer’s spokesman.
As an ICC member state, the UK is bound by international law to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant if they set foot on British soil which would be a hugely significant step against a Western ally were it to happen.
The ICC warrants place London in a diplomatically awkward position as a close ally to Israel and the United States, particularly as Washington on Thursday firmly rebuffed the warrants and does not recognise the court’s jurisdiction to prosecute war crimes.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy is yet to comment on the court’s decision even though his counterparts in European and other allied states, including France, The Netherlands and Canada, have expressed backing for the ICC.
Irish prime minister Simon Harris said on Friday he would proceed to arrest the Israeli leaders if they travelled to his country.
Hours after the announcement, Netanyahu issued a strong rebuff of the court, saying Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions” and attempted to claim it was “anti-Semitic”.
The ICC said its Chamber found evidence that the two Israeli leaders “bear criminal responsibly” for crimes including starvation as a method of warfare, causing extreme suffering, the crime of persecution and of intentionally attacking civilians in Gaza.
The Palestinian territory has been besieged by Israel since Hamas’ attacks on 7 October 2023 in a brutal war which has uprooted the majority of the 2.3 million population, destroyed towns and cities and triggered threats of famine and outbreaks of disease.
Some 150,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured by Israeli attacks with authorities fearing the toll could be higher considering the large number of people stuck under rubble or missing.
Earlier on Friday, British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper avoided answering whether the UK would arrest the Israeli prime minister if he landed on British soil during an interview on broadcaster Sky News.
Cooper said that it was “not a matter for me as home secretary” despite her responsibility for policing and arrests in the UK. She added that the government respect’s the court’s “independence” and attempted to distance UK judicial obligations from the ICC.
Chris Doyle, the director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, noted that when the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2023 for alleged war crimes related to the Ukraine war, the British government welcomed it that same day.
“Palestinian victims of war crimes are waiting,” Doyle wrote on social media platform X on Thursday.
In contrast to Cooper, Labour MP Emily Thornberry who also sits as chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said on Friday that the UK does have an obligation to arrest Netanyahu as a signatory to the Rome Statue, referring to the international treaty which led to the establishment of the ICC in 2002.
A group of independent British parliamentarians, including prominent Palestinian rights supporter and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, have written to Starmer to ask if the government will comply with the ICC warrants and warned that the Britain’s continued supply of arms parts to Israel “means the government is aiding and abetting war crimes”.
The group includes MPs Adnan Hussain, Ayoub Khan, Shockat Adam and Iqbal Mohamed.
Head of international law at firm Bindmans LLP and director of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) Tayab Ali described the ICC’s decision as “the most significant ruling in the history of international humanitarian law”.
“The ICC just smashed Israel’s decades long impunity to pieces. It is now clear that there is a prima facie case for Israel to answer that it has committed war crimes on an industrial scale in Gaza,” Ali wrote on X.
The ICJP, an independent organisation of lawyers, academics and politicians, is preparing an one million pound “legal war chest” to prepare for any legal pushback by the British government to prevent the arrest and prosecution of Netanyahu and Gallant.
