France “must apply the rules”, believes Braun-Pivet

Europe 1 with AFP
11:11 a.m., November 26, 2024

The President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet (Renaissance) estimated Tuesday that as a signatory to the statute of the International Criminal Court, France “must apply the rules” and arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he came to French territory. “From the moment 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,” explained Yaël Braun-Pivet on Sud radio.

The International Criminal Court, which Israel has not joined and from which the United States has withdrawn, issued arrest warrants on Thursday against Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of the armed wing of Palestinian Hamas Mohammed Deif for war crimes and crimes against humanity. “This is the whole difficulty of international justice (…), it is still complicated to have justice which is not recognized by all”, estimated the President of the French Assembly, nevertheless defending “the strict application of the law”.

Paris takes “note” of these arrest warrants

“By virtue of the separation of powers, I have no injunction to make to the government and the executive power,” she clarified, “but, in any case, we must draw the consequences of this accession to the ICC, obviously.” Paris “took note” of these arrest warrants on Thursday, recalling “its attachment to the independent work of the Court” but without explicitly saying whether France would arrest them if these people went to its territory.

Italy and the United Kingdom, on the other hand, immediately announced that they would respect their commitment to the ICC. Conversely, Hungary invited the head of the Israeli government as a sign of defiance.