WEST BANK (Dispatches) – If the International Criminal Court’s judges move forward and issue arrest warrants for Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and war minister Yoav Gallant, the officials would not be able to travel to 124 countries including the UK.
On Monday, the ICC’s Public Prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced that he had requested arrest warrants to be issued for Netanyahu and Gallant on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
If issued, the pair would be barred from travelling to countries which are signatories to the Rome Statute or risk facing arrest.
The U.S. and the Zionist regime are not parties to the ICC and do not recognize its jurisdiction in the case.
The applications for arrest warrants will first need to be approved by a panel of three judges from Romania, Benin, and Mexico at the ICC before they can be implemented.
This course of action at the ICC, based in The Hague, marks the first such move against the head of a close ally of the United States.
When the reports surfaced last month about seeking a course of action by the ICC chief prosecutor, the administration of President Joe Biden was quick to condemn the move, saying that “the ICC has no jurisdiction in this situation and we do not support its investigation.”
The court has been investigating Israel’s actions in the occupied territories for the past three years - and more recently the brutal war in the Gaza Strip as well.
Netanyahu asked Biden to prevent the arrest warrants against the regime’s officials.
More than 100 lawmakers and lords in the UK urged the government to condemn any threats to undermine the independence of the ICC after the prosecutor applied for arrest warrants for Israeli officials.
“We urge you to condemn any threats and attempts to undermine the independence and impartiality of the International Criminal Court in its investigations into crimes in Gaza,” the MPs and lords from 11 parties said in a letter.
The letter written Tuesday to Foreign Secretary David Cameron also urged the government to do all it can to support the ICC in ensuring accountability and justice for the victims.
“We believe that there is mounting evidence that Israel has committed clear and obvious violations of international law in Gaza and strongly believe that those responsible must be held to account,” it said.