Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the arrest warrant against him over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, saying he “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions.”
“There is nothing more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza,” a reported statement from his office reads.
Netanyahu’s words come after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant. It also submitted warrants for the arrest of Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif for crimes against humanity, including sexual violence, murder and taking hostages. So far, an estimated 44,056 people have been killed and 104,268 have been injured in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war on the Gaza Strip.
During an appearance on CNN, Luis Moreno Ocampo, a lawyer who served as ICC’s first prosecutor from 2003 to 2012, weighed in with his thoughts on the matter. Ocampo says Israel’s proven use of starvation — considered a war crime by the ICC — is where the country slipped up.
“Let’s start with the crimes, because it’s very limited to the starvation part of the campaign. The ICC is not making findings, or bombing, or genocide, it’s just a very limited charge: Starvation. And everyone knows starvation happened because Mr. Gallant openly said from the beginning they would do it,” Ocampo explained, adding that he believes Israel has the power to end the tactic. “And President [Joe] Biden spent one year begging to Israel to let food and water to go. So the facts are non-controversial, and the legal characterization that war crime or starvation. And the judges said you cannot use starvation to attack civilians to combat Hamas. And that’s very clear. Israel can stop it tomorrow, Becky. Israel can stop this tomorrow. How? If Israel starts today.”
The Israel-Hamas war has been going on for a over a year since Hamas launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people. Per AP News, there are still about 100 hostages being held captive in Gaza.
Ocampo went on to say that any participation from the U.S. would complicate matters further and shared that President-elect Donald Trump will likely find new ways to tackle the issue.
“Well, President Biden was begging Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu not to commit crimes, and now, he says, ‘OK,’ but I don’t care what that he says. I think it was a mistake,” Ocampo said. “But I think President Trump is a very smart person. So he will find alternatives, because it’s ridiculous that (the) U.S. go against the world, expose itself, protecting crimes ,when Israel can stop this tomorrow.”
He continued: “Prime Minister Netanyahu knows very well that he can stop this tomorrow just alone in (a) national investigation in Israel. So why the U.S. would go ballistic against the world when it’s an easy solution for these open investigation … The U.S. leadership will be seriously compromised here if U.S. tried to attack the ICC, because the world is with the ICC in this case.”
