Amnesty International SA welcomes ICC arrest warrants for Israel PM, Hamas leaders

Those who are suspected of being responsible for crimes under international law in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories should face trial and accountability, no matter how powerful or high-ranking they are. 

This is the view of Amnesty International South Africa’s executive director Shenilla Mohamed, after the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister Yoav Gallant as well as Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh. 

This is for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Israel and in the occupied Gaza Strip from at least October 7 2023. 

She said the move by the office meant no-one was above international law, regardless of the cause they were pursuing.

“This move by the ICC prosecutor sends an important message to all parties to the conflict in Gaza and beyond that they will be held accountable for the devastation they have waged on the peoples of Gaza and Israel,” Mohamed said.

She said the application for arrest warrants was a long-awaited opportunity to end the decades-long cycle of impunity in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories and to restore the credibility of the international justice system as a whole.

“It is now for the pretrial chamber, while the office of the prosecutor is continuing its investigations, to promptly review and decide these first applications for arrest warrants.

“All states, including third states not members of the ICC, must respect this decision.” She said if the court’s judges approved any arrest warrants, all ICC states parties must ensure the enforcement of these warrants. 

However, the South African Zionist Federation said the decision to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant was nothing more than a politically motivated decision, which was an offence to the rule of law and to the memories of the more than 1,200 Israelis brutally murdered by Hamas on October 7 last year. 

“The decision needs to be rejected by the international community as there is simply no moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas.

“To include, in a single application, the names of three leaders of a terrorist organisation alongside those of democratically elected leaders who make difficult decisions regarding the safety of their country, is to make a mockery of the concepts of ‘war crimes’ and ‘crimes against humanity',” the federation said. 

It said the decision also brought into question the future viability of the ICC and other international institutions which were being eroded by an anti-Western and vehemently anti-Israel agenda.     

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