ICC Arrest Warrants for Israeli and Hamas Leaders ‘Deeply Unhelpful’: Sunak

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak records a statement inside 10 Downing Street after Iran launched an unprecedented attack on Israel that saw RAF jets deployed to shoot down drones from Tehran in London on April 14, 2024. Benjamin Cremel /PA Wire

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called the arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Israeli and Hamas leaders a “deeply unhelpful development.”

Mr. Sunak was speaking to reporters in Vienna on Tuesday, where he travelled to hold talks on illegal immigration.

Commenting on ICC warrants over alleged war crimes by Israeli and Hamas leaders, Mr. Sunak said: “This is a deeply unhelpful development. Of course it is still subject to a final decision, but it remains deeply unhelpful nonetheless. There is no moral equivalence between a democratic state exercising its lawful right to self-defence and the terrorist group Hamas.”

Mr. Sunak suggested that it is “wrong to conflate and equivocate” between Israel and Hamas.

“What I am very clear about is that this will make absolutely no difference in getting a pause in the fighting, getting aid into the region, or indeed the hostages out,” the prime minister added.

On Monday, the ICC issued calls for the arrest of Hamas leaders, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his cabinet.

The ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said there was sufficient evidence to prosecute Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, as well as the leader of the Hamas terrorist group’s military wing, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, and Hamas’s political head Ismail Haniyeh, for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on Oct. 7, 2023.

Mr. Khan also submitted his application for the arrest Mr. Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

The ICC alleged Israeli leaders have facilitated Israeli forces using starvation as a method of warfare and allowed wilfull killings and attacks on civilian populations. Hamas leaders were alleged to use rape and other forms of sexual violence during the Oct. 7 attack and have engaged in torture then and since.

Jurisdiction Debate

The UK deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell questioned the court’s jurisdiction in the case, arguing that the UK has not recognised Palestine as a state, while Israel is “not a state party to the Rome Statute”—a treaty that established the ICC.

During a Commons debate on Israel and Gaza on Monday, Mr. Mitchell told the MPs that the ICC’s request “smacks of an unworthy, indeed ludicrous, sense of moral equivalence between” Israel and Hamas.

“We do not believe that seeking warrants will get the hostages out, get aid in or deliver a sustainable ceasefire, which remains the UK’s priority,” Mr. Mitchell told the House.

Scottish National Party MP, Joanna Cherry, argued that the government’s judgement of ICC jurisdiction is “out of step.” She drew attention to the report by ICC panel of international law experts, most of them from England and Wales.

The panel said that Palestine, including Gaza, is a State for the purpose of the ICC Statute, thus making it subject to ICC jurisdiction.

“The ICC therefore has jurisdiction over Israeli, Palestinian or other nationals who committed crimes in Gaza or the West Bank. It also has jurisdiction over Palestinian nationals who committed crimes on the territory of Israel, even though Israel is not an ICC State Party,” the ICC lawyers said.

It will take the panel of three ICC judges around two months to consider Mr. Khan’s applications.

Mr. Mitchell maintained that there were different interpretations of the jurisdiction matter and the government held a different view to that of the ICC.

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said that the Labour Party supported and respected the ICC’s independence and called for accountability of all sides of the conflict.

“Labour believes the UK and all parties to the Rome statute have a legal obligation to comply with orders and warrants issued by the ICC. Democracies that believe in the rule of law must submit themselves to it,” Mr. Lammy told MPs.

Reactions

Mr. Lammy urged the government to work with the United States to prevent a full-scale Rafah offensive and suspend weapon exports that can be used in it.

The United States has rejected the application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders. President Joe Biden refuted the prosecutor’s claims that Israeli leaders have committed war crimes against Palestinian civilians in Gaza, stating, “What’s happening [in the enclave] is not genocide.”

The Israeli leadership has condemned the prosecutor’s decision to seek arrest warrants against him and Mr. Gallant, saying that it “creates a twisted and false moral equivalence between the leaders of Israel and the henchmen of Hamas.”

Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States, has also condemned Mr. Khan’s arrest applications.

The Hamas leadership stated that the ICC should have acted against the Israeli leaders sooner for their role in the deaths of thousands of Palestinian civilians, as well as medical workers and journalists.

Ryan Morgan contributed to this report.