France supports application for Benjamin Netanyahu arrest warrant in break with Western allies

France has backed the International Criminal Court’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli officials, in stark contrast to British and American disapproval.

The ICC said it had evidence to charge Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his defence minister, with crimes against humanity, including using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. It also applied for the arrest of Hamas leaders on charges including torture and taking hostages.

France said it supported the ICC’s “independence and the fight against impunity in all situations”.

The foreign ministry “condemned the anti-Semitic massacres perpetrated by Hamas” during the attack on Israel on October 7, which was “accompanied by acts of torture and sexual violence”.

It said it had warned Israel “of the need for strict compliance with international humanitarian law, and in particular of the unacceptable level of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip and inadequate humanitarian access”.

Belgium and Slovenia also backed the move.

But Britain, America, Italy and the Czech Republic were among the countries which criticised the court’s decision.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described the application for arrest warrants as “deeply unhelpful”.

Speaking in Vienna, the Sunak said it would make no difference with regard to getting aid into Gaza and reaching a sustainable ceasefire.

“This is a deeply unhelpful development,” Sunak said. “Of course, it is still subject to a final decision, but it remains deeply unhelpful nonetheless.”

“There is no moral equivalence between a democratic state exercising its lawful right to self-defence and the terrorist group Hamas. It is wrong to conflate and equivocate between those two different entities.”

Sunak’s remarks echoed those of US President Joe Biden, who condemned the ICC’s effort to seek the arrest of Netanyahu as “outrageous”.

Unlike Israel and the United States, the UK government is a signatory to the ICC and would be obliged to respect any warrant should its subject visit Britain.

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the ICC drawing a parallel between Israel and Hamas was “plain wrong”.

“Frankly, I think this was a mistake in terms of position, in terms of timing, in terms of effect,” he said.

Palestinians line up for food distribution in Deir al Balah, Gaza on Friday, May 10, 2024. Photo / AP

‘Other dominoes will fall’

Michael Gove, the cabinet minister, also slammed the decision, accusing the ICC’s chief prosecutor of seeking “to hold Israel to standards that we don’t hold other countries to”.

“You cannot equate Israel with Hamas,” he told Times Radio. “Hamas is a terrorist organisation, bent on slaughter. Israel is a state like all states: an imperfect one, but one that’s trying to defend its people, and trying to equate the two is just nonsensical.”

Speaking later at the JW3 Jewish Community Centre in northwest London, he warned, “There can be no equivalence between them. And that moral position, I think, has to guide our response to the legal operation of the ICC.” Gove added that Russia, Iran and China were seeking to spread “anti-Semitic and anti-Israel narratives”.

“They know that if they undermine Israel, other dominoes will fall,” he said.

Germany both praised the ICC as a “fundamental achievement of the international community” and hit out at the “inaccurate impression of an equivalence” between Israel and Hamas.

An Israeli government spokesman on Tuesday urged the “civilised world” to unite against the ICC.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said on Monday he had applied for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for crimes including “wilful killing”, “extermination and/or murder”, and “starvation” during the war in Gaza.

He said Israel had committed “crimes against humanity” and accused it “of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population”.

Khan also said Hamas leaders, including Qatar-based Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, the Gazan chief, “bear criminal responsibility” for actions committed during the October 7 attack.

These included “taking hostages”, “rape and other acts of sexual violence” and “torture”, he said.

“International law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all,” Khan said. “No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader, no one can act with impunity.”

On Tuesday night, the ICC announced one of the judges who will consider the arrest warrant had recused herself over impartiality concerns.

Judge Maria del Socorro Flores Liera, who was set to rule on the arrest warrant, is married to Mexican human rights minister Miguel Ruiz Cabanas.

The court noted that in January, Mexico backed Palestine’s referral over the war in Gaza in a separate case. Mexico has recognised the state of Palestine since 2012.

In a statement, the court said Flores Liera’s marriage “could affect [her] appearance of impartiality”.

The ICC said: “While expressly noting that no issues arose in respect of any actual lack of impartiality on the part of Judge Flores, the presidency considered that the existence of a spousal relationship with a high-level government official of the ministry of foreign affairs of a state’s party involved in the referral of a situation to the office of the prosecutor was sufficient to create the potential appearance of a lack of impartiality.”