France supports arrest warrant application against Netanyahu-Hania

France has supported the request of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas Chief Executive Ismail Haniyeh, and others for their involvement in the incitement, planning and commission of war crimes in Gaza.

As the first permanent member of the UN's most powerful body, the Security Council, and the first country in Europe, France supported the move by Karim Asad Ahmed Khan (Karim Khan), the top prosecutor of the ICC. In a related statement on Tuesday (May 21), the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the request for the issuance of the arrest warrant is part of the fight against the ongoing "irresponsibility" in Gaza.
 "France has always supported the fight against the independence, credibility and accountability of the International Criminal Court," the statement said. Along with that, France hopes that the ICC will take the next step only after verifying and thoroughly analyzing all the evidence received on this issue.

Basically, the ICC recently issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Galant, Hamas Chief Executive Ismail Haniyeh, top leader Yahya Sinwar and top commander of Hamas's military wing Al Qassem Brigades, Mohammed al-Masri aka Deif al-Masri, on charges of inciting, planning and carrying out war crimes in Gaza. Application for issuance has been submitted.
The application was made by the office of the ICC's top prosecutor Karim Asad Ahmed Khan (Karim Khan). In a statement on Monday, Karim Khan said that these 5 people, including Netanyahu and Haniya, are mainly responsible for the terrible situation that the residents of the Gaza Strip are going through for the past 7 months. These 5 people are also responsible for all the war crimes committed in Gaza in the last 7 months. This is the main reason for applying for an arrest warrant.
Israel is not in the list of the 124 countries that have recognized the permanent global court named Isis. Similarly, the United States, China and Russia are not named. So Israel, the US, China, Russia and all the countries that do not recognize the ICC are not at risk for Netanyahu, Haniya and the other three.

Moreover, even if the ICC issues an arrest warrant, the court does not have the power to enforce it. But the main problem is that once the ICC issues a warrant - until it is withdrawn - it will be very risky for Netanyahu, Haniya and the other three on the list to travel to countries that recognize this court. Because in that case, the government of those countries can arrest them by taking into account the arrest warrant of the ICC. Incidentally, the UK and most European countries have recognized the ICC.

On October 7, more than 1,000 armed soldiers of Hamas and its ally, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, entered Israeli territory by ambushing the Erez border in the northern part of Gaza. They entered Israeli territory and fired indiscriminately, killing 1,200 people and taking 242 hostages.

In response to the sudden attack, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began operations in Gaza from this day. More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in the last 7 months, the number of wounded has exceeded 79,000, and 56 percent of the casualties are women and children.

Source: Reuters