When Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Berlin for the last time, he met Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz in March 2023 to exchange ideas. A meeting that may not be repeated. If Netanyahu plans to come to Berlin again, there is a high probability that he will be arrested at the airport. Since Thursday afternoon, Israel's head of government and former Defense Minister Joav Gallant have been under arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague – which are legally binding for Germany and 123 other member states. Israel itself does not recognize the criminal court.
On Thursday, the court followed Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, who had applied for the arrest warrants in May, on many points. The exact wording remains secret, but the court announced that Netanyahu and Gallant were suspected of having committed the war crime of starvation as a means of warfare – as well as crimes against humanity. The Chamber found that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the lack of food, water, electricity and fuel, as well as certain medical supplies, in Gaza created living conditions designed to exterminate part of the civilian population. Israel is responsible for this, which, after the Hamas terror of October 7th with 1,200 deaths, began a war against Hamas and the Gaza Strip, to which, according to Palestinian information, around 43,000 people have fallen victim to date. Germany, the USA and many other countries had repeatedly called on Israel for a year to allow more aid for the Gaza Strip. A few days ago, the USA admitted that Israel had not met a 30-day ultimatum for more aid to Gaza.
Israel says Mohammed Deif is dead
Chief prosecutor Khan also requested arrest warrants in May for three Hamas leaders: top Hamas leader in Gaza Jahia Sinwar, political leader Ismail Haniya and military chief Mohammed Deif. For war crimes and crimes against humanity, for the killing of civilians and the kidnapping of hostages during the October 2023 attack, as well as the ill-treatment of hostages and sexual violence against them during their captivity in Gaza. Sinwar and Haniya have since been killed by Israel, which says it also hit Deif, something the court could not confirm with certainty and therefore also issued an arrest warrant for him.
Israel's government reacted angrily to the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant: “We are accused of letting the population starve,” said Prime Minister Netanyahu in a video speech. Israel brought “hundreds of thousands of tons of food” into the Gaza Strip during the war, he defended himself. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said: “Decent countries and every decent person in the world must reject this injustice with disgust.” Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's national security minister, said Israel should respond to the court's decision Annex West Bank.
Berlin had tried to prevent the arrest warrants
From a purely legal perspective, Netanyahu can now no longer travel to any country in the European Union without running the risk of being arrested. The Netherlands announced on Thursday that it would arrest Netanyahu. It would be a situation that is hardly imaginable in Germany in view of the Holocaust: the country of the perpetrators arrests an Israeli head of government. “We abide by law and order,” a government spokesman in Berlin responded in the spring to the question of whether Germany would implement an arrest warrant. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also said that Germany values the independence of international courts, even if not every decision is considered correct.
At the same time, the federal government tried to prevent the arrest warrants and wrote a letter to the court asking the judges to give Israel time to investigate possible crimes itself. The country is a constitutional state and the International Criminal Court is only allowed to intervene if nation states are not “willing and able” to investigate allegations themselves. The USA, Czech Republic and Hungary argued similarly. However, the judges apparently saw no signs that Israel itself intended to investigate possible crimes.
How Netanyahu will behave further is unclear; important countries such as the USA and many Arab nations have not joined the court in The Hague, whose arrest warrants have been ignored by member states in the past: South Africa, for example, refused to arrest Sudan's dictator Umar al-Bashir . Despite this, South Africa accused Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice, a case that is still pending.
