Benjamin Netanyahu rejects CPI comparing Israel to “the monsters of Hamas”

The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, criticized this Monday the decision of the attorney general of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, to request arrest warrants against him and his Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, and accused him of compare Israeli soldiers with “the monsters” of Hamas.

>>> Joe Biden describes ICC’s intention to detain Israeli leaders as “scandalous”

“By what authority do you dare compare the monsters of Hamas with the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the most moral army in the world“said the president in a video message.

Netanyahu assured that Khan’s decision to request arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials at the same time as he did so for three leaders of the Islamist group (Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohamed Deif) is a “complete distortion of reality.”

Khan asked ICC judges on Monday, May 20, for authorization to issue arrest warrants against the five for alleged war crimes during the Hamas attacks of October 7 and the subsequent Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Among the crimes for which he holds the two Israeli officials responsible are the use of starvation as a “method of war” against civilians and “intentional murder,” while he holds Hamas leaders responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians. on October 7.

“As Prime Minister of Israel, I reject with disgust the Hague prosecutor’s comparison between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas“the president emphasized.

Netanyahu He also accused the institution of anti-Semitism, of which Israel is not a part (like the United States), so it would not be obliged to follow its orders.

However, all the countries of the European Union (EU) have ratified the Rome Statute, so, if the orders are issued, the Israeli president could not cross European borders, although it is not yet clear which governments would abide by the decision.

>>> Milei called Pedro Sánchez’s wife “corrupt”: is there a crisis between Argentina and Spain?