"A Watershed Event": ICC Charges Against Netanyahu First Time Court Has Gone After Western Leader

Israel and the United States have both strongly condemned the International Criminal Court’s decision to pursue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on war crimes charges, calling it “outrageous” and seeking support from other allies in opposing the court’s moves. On Monday, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan outlined specific charges against Netanyahu and Gallant, including “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” and “extermination.” The ICC also sought arrest warrants for three leaders of Hamas — Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif — for war crimes including extermination and murder, the taking of captives, torture, rape and other acts of sexual violence. The warrants for Israel’s top leaders, which must still be approved by a panel of ICC judges, are “a watershed event in the history of international justice,” says war crimes prosecutor Reed Brody. “This is the first time that a Western or pro-Western leader is [the] subject of an indictment request.”

We also speak with Israeli historian Ilan Pappé, author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, who says Israel’s strident response to the ICC prosecutor is no surprise. “This is the kind of Israel we have in 2024. It doesn’t care about international law. It doesn’t care about international opinion,” says Pappé.