After the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House denounced the court. But top U.S. allies including Britain and Ireland made clear that they aren't following suit. In fact, quite the opposite: Britain's government officials said police there would be "required" to arrest Netanyahu, and officials in Ireland made clear they would very much like to arrest him.
Asked by state broadcaster RTE if Ireland would arrest the Israeli prime minister if he came to Ireland, Harris said: "Yes, absolutely." "We support international courts and we apply their warrants," he added. Relations between Ireland and Israel have deteriorated since Dublin recognized a Palestinian state last May, a move that prompted Israel to recall its ambassador.
Ireland's foreign minister Micheal Martin said Friday he disagreed with US President Joe Biden's depiction of the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant as "outrageous," asserting that war crimes have been committed in Gaza.
"It's a collective punishment of the people… it's genocidal," he said.
Netanhayu joined Hamas leaders, mostly dead already, in the ICC's indictment. The specific crimes laid against him are "the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts." More than 40,000 people are so far dead in Gaza after Israel's invasion of it, which followed the murder of more than 1,000 Israelis in Hamas's October 2023 raids and the kidnapping of ~200 more.
Ireland has jettissoned previously cordial relations with Israel, with mutual recalls of ambassadors after it recognized Palestinian statehood. Britain has been more cirumspect, but police there collared and detained former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet for 18 months on a foreign warrant, shocking international elites. That said, current UK prime minister Keir Starmer appointed as his national security advisor the lawyer who surreptitiously negotiated Pinochet's release.
Israel is not without friends beyond the U.S.: Hungary's far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban invited him for a visit, and two other counties in the 124-member ICC, Czechia and Argentina, say they will ignore the arrest warrants. Germany and France, notably, refused to be drawn on the question of arrests when asked by journalists.
"France takes note of this decision. True to its long-standing commitment to supporting international justice, it reiterates its attachment to the independent work of the court," the French foreign ministry said in a statement.
