“No scandalous anti-Israeli decision will prevent us – and especially not me – from continuing to defend our country in any way,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a video message to his fellow citizens.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, now targeted by an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC), declared Thursday evening that no external decision would prevent him “from continuing to defend” his country “in any way so be it.”
“No scandalous anti-Israeli decision will prevent us – and especially not me – from continuing to defend our country in any way,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a video message to his fellow citizens. “We will not give in to pressure,” he added as his country faces widespread international criticism for the number of civilian casualties and the catastrophic humanitarian situation resulting from the Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip. in retaliation for the bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israel October 7, 2023.
“It’s a moral bankruptcy”
Mr. Netanyahu accuses the ICC of being “biased” and of having issued international arrest warrants against him and his ex-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, “on the basis of absolutely baseless accusations that we have allegedly committed 'crimes against humanity'. “It is a moral bankruptcy,” he continues, “which undermines the natural right of democracies to defend themselves against murderous terrorism.”
“Israel does not recognize and will not recognize this distorted decision,” added the Prime Minister, accusing the judges in The Hague of doing “nothing” “against the real crimes against humanity that are being committed” around the world, but “to make false accusations against the State of Israel” rather than attacking “harmful regimes” like “Iran, Syria, Yemen”. “And what did the Hague court do in response [aux] atrocities” committed by Hamas on October 7? he asks. “Nothing. Oh, sorry, she issued an arrest warrant for the body of Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas' military wing whom Israel says it killed in July, something the Islamist movement has never confirmed.
