Norway announce its readiness to arrest Netanyahu if he visited the country
Norway’s Foreign Minister, Espen Barth Eide, has stated that if the International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Oslo is committed to arresting him if he visits the country.
In his remarks, published Tuesday, Eide explained that “the court is responsible for issuing arrest warrants, and if this happens, all signatory states to the Rome Statute must comply with those warrants”.
The remarks caught the attention of the Israeli media, with the Israel Broadcasting Corporation reporting that Norway was the first European country to threaten to arrest Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant.
The ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced in a televised statement on Monday that he had requested arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, defense minister and three Hamas leaders.
Irrespective of Israel’s military objectives in Gaza, the Court considers the means used to achieve these objectives, which include deliberately causing death, starvation, great suffering and serious injury to the civilian population, to be criminal.
