Talker. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu today. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan requested the arrest warrant six months ago. Was this decision expected? Could the judges wait again, or make another decision?
Gilles-William Goldnadel. Concerning the date, it was necessarily uncertain. It could intervene today, yesterday or in a month and a half. But basically, I never had the slightest illusion about what the International Court would decide. Not the least. And I can say it now: I had also been approached by pro-Israeli circles so that Lawyers Without Borders could intervene. Not in the name of Israel, since Israel does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Court, but as a “friend of the Court”, as they say. I never wanted to do it, because I harbored no illusions and I did not want to give, even in a derisory way at my modest level, the slightest legitimacy to a Court whose States like Israel or the United States of America America disputes jurisdiction.
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Furthermore, there is what we jurists call the principle of subsidiarity, that is to say that when it comes to a democratic State, the State in question can first of all take matters into its own hands. possible breaches before the Court itself can take a decision. This principle was obviously trampled on, as I expected. The lawyer, the jurist, has finished speaking! For the rest, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who cannot be considered a political friend of Netanyahu, far from it, I speak euphemistically, has just published a statement that I endorse in which he declares that It's a black day for justice and a black day for the world. He explains very well that this decision of the ICC ignores the fact that it was Israel which was attacked in the conditions that you know on October 7, and that contrary to everything the Court can say, it is good Hamas is responsible for the tragic civilian deaths in Gaza, since Hamas cynically uses civilians as human shields. The Israeli president recalls that Israel was placed in a rather diabolical alternative, between doing nothing and doing what it had to do with the tragic consequences that we know. I consider that this two-pronged alternative is still distorted, because it would have been even worse to do nothing and to let Israel be destroyed by Hamas, of course.
Apart from that, it becomes comical when we see that the ICC is also pursuing Mr. Deif of Hamas on the same day, who everyone knows is six feet underground, therefore to give the illusion of equanimity … You will also notice that the great friends of Hamas, like Rima Hassan of La France insoumise, are not mistaken and are pouring champagne. The tragedy is that this will further increase the tragic isolation of Israel and its populations.
Let's get back to today's decision. Legally, what does the decision taken today by the ICC for MM. Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Galant? In theory, according to its international commitments, would Israel be supposed to arrest them and send them to The Hague?
But no ! Israel does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC, so it has nothing to do. The concrete consequences for the people targeted by the arrest warrants are consequences that certain Israeli generals experienced for a while in the past: they cannot go to countries which recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC. That is to say, Netanyahu could go to the United States tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.! This would pose no problem, even before Trump. But despite everything, it is indeed a very dark day for justice.
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Legally, are there any broader implications for the State of Israel?
No. It is only people who are targeted. Reason why I personally advocated a few months ago, particularly for this reason, that Netanyahu quickly leave power so as not to associate his status with the State. I recognize in hindsight that it was a practical reasoning of which I am not very proud.
You know, the ICC has pretty much the same impartiality as the United Nations, it's pretty much the same thing. As for Karim Khan, the prosecutor, even if the French press has not particularly covered it, he is criticized for lots of things, including sexual harassment being the most benign. But this does not seem to pose a problem of conscience for anyone. Reality is psychological, it is political, even metaphysical; it is serious, do not think that I am treating the ICC's decision with a backhand or with contempt.
According to the statement, there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu bears “criminal responsibility” for “crimes against humanity.” What political analysis do you make of this press release?
I think I just told you that. Never, ever, never have Israeli soldiers targeted civilians as civilians. And moreover not only for humanitarian reasons, it is also because they know well that Israel does not have the right to do what many countries do elsewhere, but the International Court does not care since in a way it is confirming Hamas's right to use civilian shields. It's also cynically a question of ratio: when you're at war and you have a terrorist military target with civilians around, do you have the right to strike? Cynically speaking, I can tell you that the Israeli ratios are less important than those which were used by the Allies – and I am not even talking to you about the Allies during the Second World War of course, but even by the French or by the Americans in Raqqa.
