Both the UK and US governments have objected to the International Criminal Court (ICC) issuing arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials. Not all of those nations’ allies in Europe are in alignment with that, however. Both France and Norway have come out in support of charging top Israeli officials as war criminals.
The warrants were issued in response to Israel’s response to the October 7 attacks on Israeli citizens by Hamas. Israeli troops have killed a shocking number of civilians, including unarmed women and children and Palestinian Christians.
The ICC says it has evidence of crimes of humanity that it can charge Netanyahu and his defense minister Yoav Gallant with, including using starvation as a weapon of war. At the same time, the ICC issued warrants for the leaders of Hamas on charges of hostage-taking, rape, and torture.
A final vote on the warrants against the Israelis has not been taken yet, but the situation is interesting in that a split vote like this has never happened in the body before. France says it supports the warrants. Norway issued an even stronger statement, saying it would arrest Netanyahu and other Israelis and extradite them if the warrants should be issued. Belgium and Slovenia have also indicated they’ll vote in favor of the warrants in the ICC’s final decision.
An honest and reasonable person who is not a bloodthirsty idiot like Nikki Haley or Lindsey Graham can look at the situation and see that both sides have been over-the-top in their actions. They clearly hate each other and can’t get along.
The ICC also issued an arrest warrant last year against President Vladimir Putin, which the Russian leader has easily avoided by simply not leaving Russia.
