AA / Tunis / Fatma Ben Amor
The President of the French National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, reacted this Tuesday to the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, believing that France
“must follow the rules”.
“From the moment that France is a signatory, a member of the Rome Statute and recognizes the ICC, I think that it must apply the rules resulting from it, there is no reason to deviate from them,” declared Yaël Braun-Pivet on Sud Radio.
The ICC issued arrest warrants last Thursday against Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” perpetrated in the Palestinian territories, particularly in Gaza.
The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber, based in The Hague, said in a statement that it had “issued arrest warrants against two individuals, Benyamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on at least 8 October 2023 at least until May 20, 2024, the day on which the Prosecution filed the requests for arrest warrants. It also unanimously rejected Israel's challenges (concerning the Court's jurisdiction, Editor's note) under Articles 18 and 19 of the Rome Statute.
The ICC decision has significant implications for Netanyahu and Gallant, the most significant of which is that all 124 States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court are now legally required to arrest and extradite them to The Hague if they set foot on their territory.
“This is the whole difficulty of international justice (…), it is still complicated to have justice which is not recognized by everyone,” indicated the President of the French Assembly.
“Under the separation of powers, I have no injunction to make to the government and the executive power,” she clarified.
And to continue: “But, in any case, we must draw the consequences of this accession to the ICC, obviously.”
In a first reaction, Paris announced last Thursday that it was “taking note” of these arrest warrants, recalling “its attachment to the independent work of the Court”.
The head of diplomacy of the European Union (EU), Josep Borrell, for his part, declared this Tuesday morning that EU member states should fulfill their obligations in terms of international law by complying with the mandate of ICC ruling against Netanyahu.
Drawing attention to the fact that all EU members are members of the Rome Statute, establishing the ICC, Borrell said: “You cannot choose as you want! You cannot support the court when it rules against Putin and remains silent when the court rules against Netanyahu.
Speaking to the press on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers meeting in Italy, he said “double standards” rightly lead to harsh criticism of the EU.
“I call on EU member states to fulfill their obligations under international law. Like it or not, the ICC is as powerful a court as any national court,” he added. .
“If Europe does not support the ICC, there will be no hope of justice,” Borrell argued.
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