Can ICC warrant for Netanyahu end Israel's impunity?

The impunity with which Israel has so far conducted its foreign and security policies can face a major setback if the International Criminal Court (ICC) serves arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his senior officials, analysts say.

Netanyahu and his close aides in the Israeli government are accused of committing grave human rights violations during the ongoing war in Gaza where the Israeli military has killed 34,000 people, most of them civilians.

The ICC, which has the authority to charge individuals with war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, is actively investigating Israel's ongoing military assault on Gaza, now in its seventh month and its military operations in the occupied West Bank.

“It would also have very practical implications where members of the ICC would be obliged to arrest those officials, whether it's Netanyahu or others, and hand them over to The Hague. So that means that Netanyahu would have very few places in the world where he can actually go, or very few air spaces over which he can fly.” Nour Odeh, a Palestinian political analyst and commentator, told TRT World.

Furthermore, instead of Israel being viewed as a democratic country, it would be seen as a country that is not only facing genocide charges at the ICC but also arrests warrants against its top officials, “which means that there is actual criminal case to be had against them,” Odeh added.

Israeli officials are increasingly worried that the ICC might issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu, who has expressed concerns in general terms about ICC actions against Israeli forces and officials, while Israel's foreign ministry is also monitoring reports of potential action.

However, Israel, not being a member of the ICC and not acknowledging its jurisdiction, can reject the court’s decision.

Nevertheless, the issuance of any warrants by the ICC could subject Israeli officials to the risk of arrest in other countries.

The Palestinian territories were admitted with the status of a member state in 2015.

“Netanyahu and Israel as a whole have already been found guilty of war crimes in the court of international public opinion. Although long overdue, an ICC arrest warrant is a further push for international accountability which places even more responsibility on states to comply,” Zaid Amali, Director of International Advocacy at Palestinian NGO MIFTAH, told TRT World.

“Israel is used to committing crimes with full impunity and without any form of real international accountability, it is long overdue for this to end. Such a step should exert more pressure to stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza, which Netanyahu and his allies are using to save their political careers.”

The Rome Statute, which created the ICC, was adopted in 1998 and entered into force on July 1, 2002. Although endorsed by the UN General Assembly, the court operates independently.

On Friday, Netanyahu asserted that any decisions made by the ICC would not impact Israel's actions.

The ICC intervenes when countries are incapable or unwilling to prosecute crimes within their borders but Israel argues that it possesses a functional legal system.

In 2020, former President Donald Trump imposed economic and travel sanctions on the ICC prosecutor and another senior prosecution office staffer. ICC personnel were investigating potential war crimes committed by the US and allied troops and intelligence officials in Afghanistan.

A very public trial

Students at scores of American universities have set up camps in protest against Israel’s brutal war in Gaza. The encampments have received widespread media coverage.

The students' demands include urging their universities to disclose their investments and sever connections with companies linked to the Israeli military and occupation of Palestinian territories.

“The overall atmosphere has shifted where Israeli crimes and Israeli impunity are less and less tolerated in the West by Western constituents, especially the youth who are quite fed up with the duplicity and the double standards and the hypocrisy of their governments when it comes to Israel,” Odeh told TRT World.

“And again, the reason why it's so significant is because it would be unprecedented. We are here because Palestine acceded to the Rome Statute and continued for years to lobby the court to launch an investigation, and to conclude those investigations, in a correct and appropriate manner. So if these warrants are issued, then we would be in a completely unchartered territory, legally and politically.”

Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 34,535 Palestinians — 70 percent of them babies, children and women — and wounded over 77,704.

A year ago, following the court's issuance of a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the abductions of children from Ukraine, Russia retaliated by issuing arrest warrants for Karim Khan, ICC’s chief prosecutor since 2001, and ICC judges.

Among other notable leaders charged by the ICC are ousted Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir, accused of offenses including genocide in the Darfur region, and former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who was captured and killed by the opposition soon after the ICC issued a warrant for his arrest related to the violent quelling of anti-government protests in 2011.