Israeli leaders slam ICC prosecutor for requesting arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant

Leaders across country reject moral equivalency between Hamas attacks and Israeli response

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Following the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court's announcement requesting arrest warrants for Israeli leaders Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders, Israeli politicians and organizations strongly criticized the move, arguing that it unfairly draws a moral equivalence.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, Karim Khan, drew criticism from Israeli leaders.

War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz, who recently gave Prime Minister Netanyahu an ultimatum to present a 'day after' plan for Gaza by June 8 or face his departure from the War Cabinet, called Khan's decision "moral blindness."

“The State of Israel embarked on the most just war, after a massacre by a terrorist organization against its citizens,” Gantz wrote on 𝕏. “The State of Israel fights in the most moral way in history, adhering to international law, and has an independent and strong judicial system.”

“Placing the leaders of a country that went into battle to protect its citizens, in the same line with bloodthirsty terrorists – is moral blindness and a violation of its duty and ability to protect its citizens,” Gantz continued. “Accepting the position of the prosecutor would be a historical crime that will not be erased.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the ICC's announcement “beyond outrageous.”

He warned that the “one-sided move” is a step that “emboldens terrorists around the world and violates all the basic rules of the court according to the principle of complementarity and other legal norms.”

“We expect all leaders in the free world to condemn outright this step and firmly reject it,” Herzog stated.

The announcement of the prosecutor at the ICC is beyond outrageous, and shows the extent to which the international judicial system is in danger of collapsing.

Taken in bad faith, this one-sided move represents a unilateral political step that emboldens terrorists around the…
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) May 20, 2024

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the chief prosecutor's request represents “a moment of shame for the ICC and the world community.”

He also warned that it “provides a huge boost to global jihadi terror.”

The prosecutor’s request is a moment of shame for the ICC and the world community.

It also provides a huge boost to global Jihadi terror.

An ICC that compares the executor of a deliberate murderous attack that included raping women and burning babies,
with those who are…
— Naftali Bennett נפתלי בנט (@naftalibennett) May 20, 2024

Foreign Minister Israel Katz called Khan's decision “outrageous” and also said it was “an unrestrained frontal assault on the victims of October 7th.”

The outrageous decision by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague is an unrestrained frontal assault on the victims of October 7th and our 128 hostages in Gaza.

While Hamas murderers and rapists commit crimes against humanity against our brothers and…
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) May 20, 2024

Opposition leader Yair Lapid, who has engaged in verbal attacks with Netanyahu and his government coalition members, even on Monday, said the call to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant represents “a complete moral failure.”

“We cannot accept the outrageous comparison between Netanyahu and Sinwar, between the leaders of Israel and the leaders of Hamas,” Lapid wrote on 𝕏.

The Hostage Families Forum welcomed "the warrants against senior Hamas officials" saying they "constitute further recognition of the crimes against humanity they committed, and are still committing, against the citizens of the State of Israel" but rejected drawing parallels "between Israel's leadership and the murderers of Hamas."

Instead, the organization called for "negotiations that will release the abducted."

Coalition member and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called the ICC move a “show of hypocrisy and Jewish hatred.”

“We haven't seen such a show of hypocrisy and hatred of Jews like that of the Hague Tribunal since Nazi propaganda,” Smotrich wrote on 𝕏. “These arrest warrants will be the last nail in the dismantling of this political and anti-Semitic court.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir posted to social media, saying the ICC decision proved that Israel’s willingness to submit to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding the charge of genocide waged by South Africa was a mistake.

“The statement of the Chief Prosecutor in The Hague, which puts the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense on the same row as the leaders of Hamas, shows that sending representatives of Israel to the hearing at the antisemitic court [ICJ] was a grave mistake from the beginning,” Ben Gvir stated.

“The Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense must ignore the antisemitic prosecutor of the antisemitic court and order the escalation of the attack against Hamas, until its absolute defeat.”