Francis Tuschek<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The International Criminal Court (ICC) Appeals Chamber has instructed a lower panel to reconsider Israel\u2019s objections to the court\u2019s jurisdiction over arrest warrants issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, according to a ruling published on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for allegedly committing grave atrocities, including the use of starvation as a method of warfare, during Israel\u2019s military campaign in Gaza launched in response to a deadly 2023 raid by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel, which is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, argued that the court lacks jurisdiction over its citizens. At the time, the ICC\u2019s Pre-Trial Chamber dismissed Israel\u2019s objections \u2013 filed before the warrants were issued \u2013 as premature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the Appeals Chamber has now determined that the lower panel \u201ccommitted an error of law\u201d<\/em> by failing to adequately address Israel\u2019s arguments, and has remanded the matter for a new ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The directive does not annul the existing warrants but requires the Pre-Trial Chamber to reevaluate the substance of Israel\u2019s jurisdictional objections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israeli officials have welcomed the Appeals Chamber\u2019s decision \u2013 but criticized it for refusing to suspend the arrest warrants immediately. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar stated on X that the arrest warrants were issued unlawfully and are \u201cnull and void.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe said it from the start: The International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC) doesn\u2019t have, and never had, jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants against Israel\u2019s Prime Minister and its former Minister of Defense,\u201d<\/em> Saar wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Israel\u2019s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, accused the ICC of acting \u201cas a political tool serving Israel\u2019s enemies.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe decision to revisit the question of jurisdiction exposes the lack of legitimacy behind the political arrest warrants,\u201d<\/em> Danon said, according to a statement from his office. \u201cIsrael will continue to defend itself, in coordination with its partners, and will not remain silent in the face of such hypocrisy.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The ICC Prosecutor\u2019s Office has acknowledged the Appeals Chamber\u2019s ruling and is currently reviewing the decision, although the timeline for the reconsideration has not been specified. The court had also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes, which was withdrawn in February 2025 following confirmation of his death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Francis Tuschek The International Criminal Court (ICC) Appeals Chamber has instructed a lower panel to reconsider Israel\u2019s objections to the court\u2019s jurisdiction over arrest warrants issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, according to a ruling published on Thursday. Last November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diplomacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1713,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711\/revisions\/1713"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}