What happened
The International Criminal Court's top prosecutor, Karim Khan of Britain, said Monday he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three top Hamas officials, including leader Yahya Sinwar. Hamas broke international law by killing, kidnapping and raping Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, Khan said, while Israel's use of starvation and targeting of civilians in Gaza likely amounted to war crimes.
Who said what
"We must collectively demonstrate that international humanitarian law, the foundational baseline for human conduct during conflict, applies to all individuals and applies equally across the situations," Khan said.
President Joe Biden said it was "outrageous" for Khan to target Israeli officials, arguing "there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas." Israel's Gaza offensive "is not genocide," he added. Netanyahu and Sinwar both said only the other party should face punishment.
This works out great for Netanyahu: Just when it appeared his "days in power might finally be numbered," the ICC stepped in "to save him," Politico said. Whatever Khan hoped to accomplish, the warrant application will only "cause Israelis to rally around their embattled prime minister."
What next?
Khan's request must be approved by ICC judges before warrants are issued. Israel and the U.S. are not part of the ICC, but if the warrants are approved, Netanyahu would have to be careful traveling to any of the ICC's 124 member states.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
‘These attacks rely on a political repurposing’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
‘Notes on Being a Man’ by Scott Galloway and ‘Bread of Angels: A Memoir’ by Patti Smithfeature A self-help guide for lonely young men and a new memoir from the godmother of punk
-
Why is crypto crashing?Today's Big Question The sector has lost $1 trillion in value in a few weeks
-
Memo signals Trump review of 233k refugeesSpeed Read The memo also ordered all green card applications for the refugees to be halted
-
Pentagon targets Kelly over ‘illegal orders’ videoSpeed Read The Pentagon threatened to recall Kelly to active duty
-
Judge tosses Trump DOJ cases against Comey, JamesSpeed Read Both cases could potentially be brought again
-
US, Kyiv report progress on shifting Ukraine peace planSpeed Read The deal ‘must fully uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty,’ the countries said
-
Comey grand jury never saw final indictmentSpeed Read This ‘drove home just how slapdash’ the case is, said The New York Times
-
Summers out at Harvard, OpenAI amid Epstein furorSpeed Read Summers was part of a group being investigated by Harvard for Epstein ties
-
Trump ordered to fully fund SNAPSpeed Read The Justice Department is appealing the decision
-
Judge issues injunction on DHS use of forceSpeed Read Agents can only use force under the ‘immediate threat of physical harm’
