Israel has decided to appeal against arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. The court accused the officials of using starvation as a method of warfare by restricting humanitarian aid to Gaza. Israel denies the court’s authority and legitimacy of the warrants and has requested their suspension pending the appeal.
France has expressed the belief that the Israeli officials have immunity from the arrest warrants as Israel is not a member of the ICC. However, rights groups have criticized France’s stance, saying that no one, regardless of their office, is immune to arrest warrants issued by the ICC.
It took almost a week for France to come up with a clear position on the matter, initially supporting the ICC’s statutes but later stating that the arrest warrants were merely formal accusations. The French Foreign Ministry stated that the Rome Statute provides immunities to states not party to the ICC, including Netanyahu and other ministers.
This stance by France has been deemed “deeply problematic” by rights groups, including Amnesty International, who have called for the unequivocal legal duty under the Rome Statute to be upheld. Italy has also raised doubts about the legality of the ICC mandates and the issue of immunity for high state officials.
The involvement of France and the United States in efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah complicates the situation, with concerns that the arrest warrants could hinder peace initiatives in the Middle East.
Source
Photo credit www.aljazeera.com