Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu’s office and members of the Israeli government strongly condemned the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Thursday, accusing it of “anti-Semitism” after its decision to issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallad. .

The move comes after ICC prosecutor Karim Khan announced on May 20 that he is seeking arrest warrants for alleged crimes linked to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel and the Israeli military response in Gaza. The Hague also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al Masri (also known as Mohammed Deif).

“New Dreyfus trial”

“Benjamin Netanyahu will not bow to pressure, he will not be deterred and he will not back down until all of Israel’s war goals are achieved,” the Israeli prime minister’s office said.

The International Court of Justice’s “anti-Semitic decision” to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallad “is tantamount to a modern-day Dreyfus trial,” he said in a statement.

Vowing that the court’s ruling will not prevent Israel from protecting its citizens, Netanyahu says he rejects “with disgust” the court’s “false” charges — and says they stem from the efforts of Karim Khan, the attorney general of the court, to “save his record from the serious accusations against him of sexual harassment” as well as the convictions of “biased judges with motivated by anti-Semitic hatred of Israel.”

“That’s why the attorney general lied when he told US senators that he wouldn’t act against Israel before he got here and heard its side. That is why he suddenly canceled his arrival in Israel last May, just days after allegations of sexual harassment against him, and announced his intention to issue arrest warrants against the prime minister and the former defense minister,” claims the prime minister’s office.

Yoav Gallad has not reacted yet.

“Black Day”

The International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallad for war crimes marks “a black day for justice and humanity,” President Isaac Herzog says.

“In bad faith, the outrageous decision of the ICC has turned universal justice into a global laughingstock. It mocks the sacrifice of all those who fight for justice – from the victory of the Allies over the Nazis until today,” says the Israeli president.

The court’s ruling “ignores the plight of the 101 Israeli hostages held in brutal captivity by Hamas in Gaza,” it continues.

“It ignores Hamas’s cynical use of its own people as human shields. It ignores the basic fact that Israel was brutally attacked and has the duty and right to defend its people. It ignores the fact that Israel is a vibrant democracy, acting in accordance with international humanitarian law and making every effort to meet the humanitarian needs of the civilian population.”

By issuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galland, the ICC “chose the side of terror and evil over democracy and freedom and turned the justice system itself into a human shield for Hamas’ crimes against humanity,” Herzog charges. , calling for true moral clarity in the face of an Iranian evil empire that seeks to destabilize our region and the world”.

“Sodom”

Avi Maoz, deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, called the court’s decision “hypocrisy of the worst kind.” The far-right politician accuses the court of “congratulating murderous dictatorships and ignoring serious global corruption” in order to go after a country in the middle of an “existential war”.

The court has “time and again proven itself to be anti-Semitic,” says far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

“The response to the arrest warrants is to apply sovereignty over all the lands of Judea and Samaria and settle in all parts of the country and cut ties with the terrorist [παλαιστινιακή] principle, together with sanctions”, he even wrote to X.

“This is modern anti-Semitism under the guise of justice,” Transport Minister Miri Regev wrote in X, describing the warrants as “legal absurdity.”

“Israel will not apologize for protecting its citizens. This is not a crime, this is our national and moral duty,” he argues.

Negev, Galilee and National Resistance Minister Yitzhak Gasserlauf described the warrants as “anti-Semitic accusations against all citizens of Israel” – pledging that Jerusalem “will not be deterred and will continue to fight murderous terrorism”.

“Simply anti-Semitism, always anti-Semitism,” Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf said for his part, quoting a verse from the 4th book of the Old Testament, which states that the Jews are “a people dwelling alone, not numbered among the nations.”

Cultural Heritage Minister Amichai Eliahu quips that it was “fortunate that Churchill did not have to ask permission from The Hague before saving Europe from the Nazis”.

“The Hague court has been marked as the ‘successor’ of the Sodom court,” argues Minister of Settlements and National Projects Orit Strock, comparing the ICC to the biblical city of sin. “I expect the nations of the free world to withdraw from it in disgust before they are stained with this terrible stain,” he added.

The Netherlands says it is ready to execute the ICC warrants

The Netherlands is ready to act on ICC arrest warrants if necessary, Dutch news agency ANP reported, citing the country’s Foreign Minister Kaspar Feldkamp as its source.