Barrot evokes “immunity” for Netanyahu and angers the left, which deplores “impunity”

POLITICS – The minister’s embarrassment. Asked this Wednesday, November 27, what the authorities would do in the event of Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to France, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot raised possible “immunity issues” pour “certain leaders” targeted, like the Israeli Prime Minister, by a mandate from the International Criminal Court, without going into further details.

Clarification from the Quai d'Orsay in the morning: according to Paris, the Israeli Prime Minister benefits from a “immunity” Who “will have to be taken into consideration if the ICC were to ask us for their arrest and surrender “. In a press release, published a few minutes after the visit of the head of diplomacy on franceinfo, the ministry invokes the obligations provided for in international law linked to “immunities of States not party to the ICC”which is the case for Israel. He adds that these protections “apply” to Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as to his ministers targeted by an arrest warrant from the court.

This position, it is explained, is justified by an article of the Rome Statute of 1998 which establishes the ICC. However, the article in question can remain open to various interpretations, and the one made by Paris arouses a wave of disapproval on the left of the French political scene.

Tondelier imagines a ” deal »

A number of rebellious elected officials thus castigate a decision “ shameful “, a ” historical fault. » « Isn't it more like 'impunity'? », asks for example the coordinator of the radical left movement, Manuel Bompard when his colleague Thomas Portes believes that “ France covers itself once again with shame », car « there is no immunity for a war criminal who commits genocide. »

Among the outraged reactions, we also find that of the communist deputy Elsa Faucillon. For her, “ the shameful choice » from Paris « tramples international law and encourages the impunity of the Israeli state in its genocidal war. » « The French government once again betrays the values ​​of justice and law », scathes the elected representative of Hauts-de-Seine on social networks.

Still on the left, the national secretary of environmentalists accuses France and Emmanuel Macron of committing “ historical error, very very serious ” in ” folding once again to the demands of Benjamin Netanyahu by choosing him rather than international justice. » « It's tragic », writes Marine Tondelier in a long message published on X, imagining in passing a “ deal » with Israel « for France to be cited in the official announcement of the ceasefire in Lebanon published jointly by France and the United States yesterday. »

And she is not the only one to evoke a counterpart of this kind. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz states, citing an Israeli source, that the “ Remarks » French on the ICC « were an Israeli demand in the negotiations » which led to a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

In fact, the clarification from the French authorities comes a few hours after the entry into force, early Wednesday morning, of this expected agreement, and which follows more than a year of cross-border hostilities and two months of open war.

“Putin will not be arrested if he comes to UNESCO? »

However, after the announcement by the ICC of the arrest warrant targeting Benjamin Netanyahu (and others), France repeated that it would apply its obligations under international law, without however clearly saying whether it would arrest the Prime Minister Israeli if he came to France. A position that is more vague than other countries, such as Italy and the United Kingdom, which immediately announced that they would respect their commitment to the ICC.

In this context, several elected officials on the left denounce the variable geometry position of Paris by recalling, for example, France's firmness towards Vladimir Putin to better denounce ” impunity » by Benjamin Netanyahu. And for good reason: as with Israel, Russia is not a member of the ICC. “ If we follow the logic of what (the Quai d'Orsay press release) says, what should we understand?asks Marine for example Tondelierthat Putin will not be arrested if he comes to UNESCO? »

In this sense, LFI MP Gabrielle Cathala exhumes an old press release published by the Quai d'Orsay after the decision of the ICC, in March 2023, to issue an arrest warrant against the master of the Kremlin. “ This decision will be a landmark. No one responsible for crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine, regardless of their status, must escape justice », welcomed French diplomacy. In comparison, writes the rebellious elected official from Val-d’Oise, “ France organizes Netanyahu's impunity well ».

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