European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday some European countries were trying to intimidate International Criminal Court judges over a case against Israeli leaders, and must stop \u201cmeddling\u201d and respect the court.
\nICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced on Monday that he had filed for arrest warrants against Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders.
\n\u201cThe prosecutor has done nothing more than make an accusation and the court will decide,\u201d Borrell told Spanish broadcaster TVE. \u201cIn the meantime, I ask everyone, starting with the Israeli government and some European governments, not to intimidate the judges.\u201d
\n\u201cDon\u2019t threaten them, don\u2019t try to influence their decision, sometimes with threats and very harsh disqualifications,\u201d he added.
\nKhan accused the three Hamas leaders of crimes including extermination, hostage taking and sexual violence, and the two Israeli leaders of crimes including extermination, using hunger as a weapon and intentionally attacking civilians.
\nIsrael denies committing war crimes in Gaza, says the ICC has no jurisdiction there and has called on countries to repudiate what it considers a politically motivated rogue court. Hamas has also rejected the accusations against its leaders.
\nSeveral countries have denounced the ICC prosecutor\u2019s decision to seek the arrest of the Israelis, including the United States, Israel\u2019s closest ally, which is not a member of the ICC. Hungary on Thursday described the request for arrest warrants as a \u201cpolitical decision\u201d that discredited the court.
\nThe International Court of Justice, a separate court also based in the Hague, was due later on Friday to rule on a separate request from South Africa to order Israel to halt its offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
\nIn a further step that increased Israel\u2019s political isolation this week, Spain, Norway and Ireland have announced that they will recognise an independent Palestinian state.
\nIsrael says this amounts to rewarding Hamas for its Oct. 7 attacks on Israeli territory and would strengthen the Islamist militant group. Borrellrejected this criticism.
\n\u201cWhen it is said that this strengthens Hamas, I see it the other way round because the Palestinian world is divided between an authority that we recognise, that we fund, that we engage with\u2026 and a terrorist organisation that we regard as such,\u201d he said.
\nIsrael launched its war in Gaza in retaliation for the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas-led fighters who killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel\u2019s subsequent assault on the enclave has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza\u2019s health ministry.
\nBorrell said other European countries were considering recognising a Palestinian state, but did not provide further details. He said that criticising the Israeli government\u00b4s actions should not be considered antisemitic.
\n\u201cEvery time someone takes the decision to support Palestinian state-building, something that everyone in Europe supports\u2026Israel\u2019s reaction is to turn it into an anti-Semitic attack.\u201d
\n(Reuters)International Criminal Court. European Union, International Criminal Court, Israeli leaders<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urged some European countries to stop intimidating International Criminal Court judges over a case against Israeli leaders. ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan filed for arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders. Israel denies committing war crimes in Gaza and has called the ICC politically motivated. Several countries, including the United States, have denounced the ICC prosecutor’s decision. Spain, Norway, and Ireland announced they will recognize an independent Palestinian state. Borrell stated that supporting Palestinian state-building should not be considered antisemitic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":13035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1521,589,232,2211,1943,383,7224,1234,4538,9134,4039,5334,932,3635,2919,4758,3530,379,201,2229,2404,6144,145,415,298,210,2581,5138,1025,3410,2496,10663,10837,187,10774,10997,10664,1130,299,11123,7962,582,3940,7089,493,10836,4941,345,5755,462,4833,1792,8969,9686,837,2871,6790,6349,5441,317,586,7967,1358,544,134,293,4280,6024,6305,18],"class_list":["post-13034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-1521","tag-africa","tag-arrest","tag-arrest-warrants","tag-assault","tag-attack","tag-attacking","tag-attacks","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-broadcaster","tag-building","tag-civilians","tag-court","tag-crimes","tag-criminal-court","tag-criticism","tag-defence-minister","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european-countries","tag-european-union","tag-foreign-policy","tag-gaza","tag-government","tag-hamas","tag-health","tag-health-ministry","tag-hostage","tag-hostages","tag-hungary","tag-hunger","tag-icc","tag-independent-palestinian-state","tag-international","tag-international-court","tag-international-court-of-justice","tag-international-criminal-court","tag-ireland","tag-israel","tag-israeli-leaders","tag-jurisdiction","tag-justice","tag-leaders","tag-militant","tag-netanyahu","tag-norway","tag-organisation","tag-palestine","tag-palestinian-state","tag-palestinians","tag-policy","tag-prime-minister","tag-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-prosecutor","tag-rafah","tag-request","tag-respect","tag-retaliation","tag-sexual-violence","tag-south-africa","tag-spain","tag-state","tag-support","tag-united-states","tag-violence","tag-war","tag-war-crimes","tag-war-in-gaza","tag-who","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n