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France Casts Doubt on Arresting Netanyahu Under ICC Warrant

The French foreign ministry suggested Benjamin Netanyahu may have immunity from arrest because Israel isn’t a signatory of the court founding treaty.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the subject of an ICC arrest warrant over the war in Gaza. Photo: ohad zwigenberg/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the subject of an ICC arrest warrant over the war in Gaza. Photo: ohad zwigenberg/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

PARIS—The French government cast doubt on whether it would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under warrants issued by the International Criminal Court last week, suggesting that the Israeli leader might have immunity, a stance that raises questions about the court’s jurisdiction worldwide.

The issue became central to the cease-fire deal between Israel and Lebanon announced Tuesday evening, according to Israeli officials. Israeli officials said that they wouldn’t accept France, alongside the U.S., as the oversight power on a monitoring committee for the cease-fire if Netanyahu risked arrest were he to travel to France. 

On Wednesday, the French foreign ministry suggested that Netanyahu might have immunity from arrest under the ICC warrants because Israel isn’t a signatory to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC.

“Such immunities apply to Prime Minister Netanyahu and other relevant ministers and will need to be taken into consideration should the ICC request their arrest and surrender,” the foreign ministry said.

 

The International Criminal Court building in The Hague, the Netherlands. Photo: laurens van putten/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
The International Criminal Court building in The Hague, the Netherlands. Photo: laurens van putten/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

 

Ultimately, a French judge will decide whether to arrest Netanyahu, if he is headed to France, based on a request from the ICC, said a senior French official.

The position of France, a key European power and one of 124 countries that have signed the Rome Statute, raises doubts about the ICC’s global reach, particularly over countries that haven’t signed the treaty. The court, based in The Hague, issued arrest warrants last week for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the war in Gaza. The warrants allege that the two men committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the use of starvation as a weapon and, in two instances, directing attacks against civilians. 

On Wednesday the ICC said that any requests by countries to change the implementation of its decisions are up to the court’s judges.

While Israel isn’t a signatory to the treaty, the Palestinian territories have signed it, using their status as a nonmember observer state at the United Nations. The ICC ruled in 2021 that the court has jurisdiction over offenses committed in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

France’s statement raises questions about whether France would apply the same criteria to ICC warrants issued for leaders of other countries that haven’t signed the Rome statute, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The ICC’s chief prosecutor has asked judges to issue an arrest warrant for the junta leader of Myanmar, which isn’t an ICC member, over crimes against the Rohingya minority, the first such request from the court against a high-level official in the Southeast Asian nation. Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who led a military coup that overthrew the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, is accused of crimes against humanity against the group during brutal military operations that forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee across the border to Bangladesh.

France has previously carried out arrests under warrants issued by the ICC, but those arrests involved countries that are members of the court. The French foreign ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment.

 

The International Criminal Court alleges that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza offensive. Photo: Amir Cohen/Reuters

Reaction to the ICC arrest warrant has been mixed in Europe. Some countries, such as Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands, have been clear that they must abide by the court’s warrants. Other countries, such as Germany and Italy, have sent mixed signals on what they would do. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is considered close to Israel, immediately invited Netanyahu to his country, denouncing the ICC move. Britain has said it would always comply with its international obligations.

The U.S. and China haven’t signed the Rome Statute.

The ICC’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu threw a wrench in cease-fire talks, people familiar with the matter said. After the warrants were issued, a French foreign ministry spokesman said last week: “On this issue, as on all others, we support the action of the Court’s prosecutor who acts in complete independence.” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot had said that Paris would always apply international law if Netanyahu visited France, without specifying whether he would be subject to arrest.

Netanyahu asked to have a call with French President Emmanuel Macron in recent days to convey his disappointment with France’s position on the ICC warrant, according to a person familiar with the matter. During this call, Macron said that France was committed to international justice but didn’t take a position on whether it would carry out the arrest warrants or not.

Macron called Biden a few hours later after speaking with Netanyahu to discuss the ICC issue.

Tensions have grown sharply between France and Israel in recent weeks as Macron’s criticism of Israel’s military operations in Gaza has been heightened by Israel’s attack on Lebanon, a country with longstanding French ties.

 

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has said that Paris would always apply international law if the Israeli leader visited France. Photo: remo casilli/Reuters
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has said that Paris would always apply international law if the Israeli leader visited France. Photo: remo casilli/Reuters

 

Netanyahu and other Israeli officials publicly criticized Macron over a series of decisions, including a French proposal to limit arms supplies to Israel because of Israel’s actions in Gaza and a ban on Israeli companies participating in an international naval exhibition earlier this month.

“I have a message for President Macron,” Netanyahu said in a video statement on October 5. “The axis of terror stands together. But countries who supposedly oppose this terror axis call for an arms embargo on Israel. What a disgrace.”

French officials said that both Lebanon and the U.S. insisted to Israel that France would need to be part of the monitoring mechanism for the deal to work.

Under the cease-fire deal, France has critical roles, including helping build up the Lebanese armed forces, which are supposed to take control of southern Lebanon and ensure Hezbollah cannot operate freely there again. Its political role in the agreement—standing alongside the U.S. in monitoring the agreement—was also a crucial factor in winning Lebanese approval for the deal, given Washington’s close ties with Israel.

Alex Ward and Feliz Solomon contributed to this article.

Write to Matthew Dalton at Matthew.Dalton@wsj.com, Anat Peled at anat.peled@wsj.com and Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com

Author: Matthew Dalton, Anat Peled and Laurence Norman

Source: WSJ:

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