Israel and Hamas are not equal, Biden rejected an arrest warrant for Netanyahu

“The ICC prosecutor’s request for an arrest warrant against Israeli leaders is outrageous. And to be clear: whatever this accuser suggests, there is no, no, equality between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand by Israel against threats to its security,” Biden said. Already in May, he called prosecutor Karim Khan’s request to issue arrest warrants for Israeli officials “outrageous”.

“The United States has made it clear that the ICC has no jurisdiction in this matter. In coordination with partners, including Israel, we are discussing next steps,” the White House had already announced after the meeting of the National Security Council. At the same time, the United States itself does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC – just like Israel – and thus does not have to comply with the arrest warrant.

In May, Prosecutor Khan also requested the issuance of an arrest warrant for the leaders of the Hamas terrorist movement Jahjá Sinvár, Ismáíl Haníja and Muhammad Dejf. The two first named were killed by Israeli forces. Israel claims that it also killed Deif during the airstrike, but Hamas has not acknowledged the death of its shadow leader.

Netanyahu makes it clear that his relationship with Democrat Biden is significantly colder than with the newly elected American president, Republican Donald Trump. After the November elections, he was one of the first to call the next head of the White House and congratulate him on the “greatest comeback in history”.

The Israeli prime minister also said that he deliberately ignored the objections of the Biden administration against the entry of Israeli forces into cities in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the terrorist attack by Hamas from last October or against Israel’s response to the Iranian missile attack.

The court, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands, began to function in 2002, when a sufficient number of states ratified the convention. Initially, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court was signed by the USA and Russia, but none of the countries ratified it and later revoked their signature. ICC signatory countries are a total of 124 countries, including the Czech Republic and other EU countries, Britain and Canada.

A number of signatory countries have already indicated that they would have to arrest Netanyahu or Galant if these politicians came to their territory. Czech diplomacy also indicated this, although domestic leaders generally strongly criticize the ICC’s decision.

“Our position is still the same. The Czech Republic observes and will observe our international legal obligations. In the case of international arrest warrants, the public prosecutor’s office and the police act, it is not a political decision at all. We live in a state governed by the rule of law,” said the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the issue of the arrest warrant.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday that he will invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit his country and ensure that the arrest warrant issued against Netanyahu by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday “will not be executed.”

It would not be the first time that the signatory countries ignored the arrest warrant issued by the ICC. This year, during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mongolia proceeded in the same way, previously, for example, the Republic of South Africa behaved similarly, when it did not arrest Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir, who was wanted for crimes against humanity, including genocide, during his visit to the country. Guilty countries are not threatened with any more serious punishment – ​​in the case of the Republic of South Africa, the ICC stated only two years later that the country had failed to comply with its obligations.

In a terrorist attack in October 2023, Hamas and other armed groups from the Gaza Strip in southern Israel killed around 1,200 people. In response, Israel launched a large-scale military retaliation in the Gaza Strip, which is still ongoing. Authorities controlled by Hamas claim that Israel has killed over 44 thousand people in the Palestinian enclave since last October. In the balance sheet, which cannot be independently verified, it does not distinguish between civilians and armed men.