Israel\u2019s foreign minister said on Monday a request by the International Criminal Court prosecutor for arrest warrants for Israel\u2019s prime minister and defence minister was \u201cscandalous\u201d and tantamount to attacking the victims of Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7 raid.
\nICC prosecutor Karim Khan is seeking warrants for Israel\u2019s Netanyahu, Gallant and three leaders of the Palestinian militant group Hamas over alleged war crimes. A panel of pre-trial judges will determine whether the evidence supports his request.
\nForeign minister Israel Katz said he had opened a special war room within the foreign ministry to counteract the ICC prosecutor\u2019s move.
\nNo force in the world would prevent Israel bringing back from Gaza hostages who were seized in Israel by Hamas-led gunmen on Oct. 7 and toppling the Palestinian militant group.
\nKatz, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s ruling Likud party, said the war room would work to combat the move, which he said be believed was aimed at tying Israel\u2019s hands and preventing it from exercising its right to self-defence.
\n\u201cI intend to speak with foreign ministers of leading countries around the world to urge them to oppose the prosecutor\u2019s decision and declare that even if warrants are issued, they do not intend to enforce them against Israeli leaders,\u201d Katz said.
\n(Reuters)ICC Arrest Warrants. International Criminal Court, arrest warrants, war crimes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The International Criminal Court prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister and Defence Minister, as well as three leaders of Hamas, over alleged war crimes. Israel’s Foreign Minister called the request “scandalous” and opened a special war room to counteract the move, which he believes is aimed at tying Israel’s hands in exercising its right to self-defence. Katz also plans to urge foreign ministers of leading countries to oppose the prosecutor’s decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":12510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[232,2211,7224,4538,932,3635,2919,3530,1610,1392,5985,145,3092,298,1025,115,10663,187,10664,299,3940,7089,9597,493,345,10444,5328,1792,8969,9686,6180,2871,1906,2687,293,4280,6305,18],"class_list":["post-12509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-arrest","tag-arrest-warrants","tag-attacking","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-court","tag-crimes","tag-criminal-court","tag-defence-minister","tag-evidence","tag-foreign-minister","tag-foreign-ministers","tag-gaza","tag-gunmen","tag-hamas","tag-hostages","tag-human-rights","tag-icc","tag-international","tag-international-criminal-court","tag-israel","tag-leaders","tag-militant","tag-move","tag-netanyahu","tag-palestine","tag-palestinian-militant","tag-party","tag-prime-minister","tag-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-prosecutor","tag-raid","tag-request","tag-trial","tag-victims","tag-war","tag-war-crimes","tag-who","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n