The International Criminal Court rejects Israel’s request to cancel the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Galant
The International Criminal Court on Friday rejected Israel’s appeal to overturn two arrest warrants it issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
In a decision that made global headlines, the International Criminal Court ruled in November that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu and Galant bore “criminal responsibility” for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The court also issued arrest warrants for three senior Hamas leaders, but dropped them after their deaths.
The arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galant sparked outrage in Israel and the United States, which has since imposed sanctions on senior International Criminal Court officials.
Netanyahu described the decision as “anti-Semitic,” while then-US President Joe Biden called it “outrageous”.
Israel asked the court last May to cancel the two arrest warrants while it reviewed a separate challenge regarding whether the International Criminal Court had jurisdiction in the matter.
The court rejected the Israeli request on July 16, finding that there was no legal basis to cancel the arrest warrants until the issue of jurisdiction was resolved.
A week later, Israel sought to appeal the ruling, but the judges ruled on Friday that the case, as framed by Israel, isn’t subject to appeal.
