On November 21, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued an arrest warrant targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leader Mohammed Deif, whose death , announced, has not been confirmed. The ICC intends to try these officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. As a stakeholder in the ICC, France would therefore have an obligation to arrest the Israeli leader if he were on its soil to hand him over to international justice. This is, at least, what everyone understood, after the ICC arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin, in March 2023. This was without counting on politics and the wish of the Elysée to participate in the ceasefire in Lebanon. On November 27, a press release from the Quai d'Orsay created a surprise by mentioning “immunities” from which the leaders of “States not party to the ICC” would benefit. This is the case for Israel, but also for Russia. In fact, France thus recognizes immunity for Benjamin Netanyahu: if he set foot in France, he would therefore not be arrested. Pro-Palestinian circles and humanitarian organizations are crying foul. To untangle the legal threads, Opinion interviewed Céline de Roany, who teaches public international law at Griffith University, in Brisbane (Australia).
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