TEL AVIV, May 20. /TASS/. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan’s statement on the possible issuance of an arrest warrant for him and accused him of anti-Semitism.
"The absurd and false warrant of the Hague prosecutor is aimed not only against the Israeli prime minister and defense minister, it is aimed against the entire State of Israel. It is aimed against the Israel Defense Forces soldiers who are heroically fighting against vile Hamas murderers who barbarously attacked us on October 7 [2023]," he said in a video address released by his office.
"As the Israeli prime minister, I reject with disgust the Hague prosecutor’s comparison of democratic Israel with Hamas murderers. This is a total distortion of reality. This is how new anti-Semitism looks like: it has moved from campuses I the West to the court in the Hague. What a shame," he added.
"The Hague prosecutor, how dare you draw parallels between the Hamas monsters and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, the world’s most moral army?" Netanyahu emphasized. In his words, the Israeli military "is waging a fair war." "People of Israel, I promise you one thing: the attempt to bind us hand and foot will fail. Eighty years ago, the Israel people was helpless before its enemies, but not now. <…> We will overthrow Hamas’ vile regime [in the Gaza Strip] and will win the complete victory," he pledged.
Earlier in the day, the ICC’s claims were ejected by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Foeign Minister Israel Katz, War cabinet minister Benny Gantz, and opposition leader Yair Lapid.
The ICC press office said earlier in the day that Karim Khan, a prosecutor with the International Criminal Court (ICC), had requested to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister of Israel Yoav Gallant. "On the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav Gallant, the Minister of Defense of Israel, bear criminal responsibility for… war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 8 October 2023," the ICC quoted him as saying.
The ICC launched an investigation in Palestinian territories in 2021 to probe into possible war crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces, Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups. According to Prosecutor Karim Khan, the crimes committed in the course of the current escalation also are within the scope his mandate.