ICC prosecutor's call for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders 'a watershed moment'

“For 76 years, Israel literally had a licence to kill. Until Monday,” Middle East Eye’s Editor in Chief, David Hearst writes, reacting to the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to request arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

Hearst notes that prosecutor Karim Khan based his application on a report by a panel of international law experts, who focused on Israel’s policy of famine and siege in Gaza, but if the application succeeds it could pave the way for the UCC to investigate other allegations of war crimes against Israel going back to 2015.

“Whichever way you look at it, this is a watershed moment. It punctures Israel’s immunity and deeply embarrasses its backers. It exposes, as never before, the colonial nature of the stance that international justice applies only to others,” Hearst writes.

READ MORE: The ICC has suspended Israel's licence to kill