Germany questions ICC jurisdiction to investigate Israeli leaders

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May 20. () –

The German Foreign Ministry on Monday expressed its doubts about the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) regarding possible crimes committed by Israeli leaders after the ICC Prosecutor’s Office announced its intention to request an arrest warrant against him. Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant.

Berlin has recalled that the Prosecutor’s request must now be analyzed by the Admission Chamber, which will decide whether the arrest warrants are issued. “The chamber will have to answer several difficult questions, such as the question of its jurisdiction and the complementarity of investigations between affected constitutional states, such as Israel,” Germany noted.

The German Government refers to the fact that Israel is not a State party to the Rome Statute, which constitutes the ICC. However, Palestine has requested to submit to its jurisdiction and the court itself confirmed in 2015 that it has jurisdiction in these territories.

Furthermore, Germany has criticized the fact that Netanyahu and Gallant have been placed on the same level with the Hamas leaders also mentioned in the ICC Prosecutor’s Office’s letter. “It gives the false impression of equality,” he reproached.

“Hamas leaders are responsible for a barbaric massacre in which men, women and children were brutally murdered, raped and kidnapped in Israel on October 7,” he recalled.

“Hamas continues to hold Israeli hostages in unspeakable conditions, continues to attack Israel with rockets and continues to use the Palestinian civilian population as human shields,” he added. Therefore, “the Israeli Government has the right and duty to protect itself and defend its people from this,” he stressed.

In any case, Germany has highlighted that the ICC “is a fundamental achievement of the global community” and that it has always supported it. “Germany respects its independence and its procedures the same as those of other international courts,” she stressed.

The chief prosecutor of the ICC, Karim Khan, announced this Monday that the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant derive from “reasonable grounds” to believe that “they have criminal responsibility” for war crimes and crimes against humanity “committed in the territory of the State of Palestine, in the Gaza Strip, at least since October 8.”