‘We need to apply the law': ICC prosecutor defends Netanyahu arrest warrant
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has said that his arrest warrant request for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is necessary to demonstrate the court is "not just an instrument of power".
In May, Karim Khan said he had filed an application for the arrest of Israeli and Hamas leaders for their roles in alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during Israel's war on Gaza and the 7 October Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
The request for the warrants is yet to receive approval by the ICC judges.
Khan told the BBC’s Nick Robinson that he had been warned by multiple states and authorities that the move would prove to be an “atomic bomb”, but that it was necessary to show that all nations will be held to the same standard in relation to alleged war crimes.
“You can't have one approach for countries where there's support, whether it's Nato support, European support [and] powerful countries behind you, and a different approach where you have clear jurisdiction,"” Khan told Robinson.
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“When people are in shelters hearing bombs overhead, when people are struggling with plastic bags crossing international borders... whether that’s Ukraine into Poland, or whether it’s Darfur into Chad, we need to apply the law.”
When asked by Robinson if the move was a political decision rather than a legal one, Khan responded: “What we’re doing is the antithesis of politics, it’s about the equal application of the law irrespective of whether one receives a round of applause from some quarters or a deafening din of condemnation from the other.”
Khan pointed out that the same political leaders who had applauded the court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin had condemned the same being done for the Israeli leadership.
“We need to apply the law in a way that is equal, because if we don’t, and importantly if we’re not seen to, we’re going to lose all the architecture, not just the ICC, that has been built on human suffering since Nuremberg.”
Karim also rejected the accusations of antisemitism levelled against him by Netanyahu, saying that “there’s not an ounce, not a jot, not a scintilla of truth in the charge.
“Our job is to apply the law and not to be dissuaded by these cheap shots or criticisms that manifestly are false,” he added.
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