While an arrest warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Quai d'Orsay indicated this Friday to “take note” of the jurisdiction. However, the document recalls “that there is no possible equivalence between Hamas, a terrorist group, and Israel, a democratic state.”
France “takes note” of the arrest warrants issued Thursday by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the head of the armed wing of Hamas Mohammed Deif, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared this Friday.
While Paris recalled this Friday its “attachment to the independent work of the Court”, French diplomacy was keen to emphasize that there was “no possible equivalence between Hamas, a terrorist group, and Israel, a democratic state” .
France also “condemned and continues to condemn in the strongest terms the anti-Semitic terrorist attacks committed on October 7 by Hamas and other terrorist groups.”
Outrage in Israel
These arrest warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity aroused indignation in Israel and provoked a wave of contrasting reactions in Europe. American President Joe Biden denounced a “scandalous” decision.
Regarding the situation in Gaza, France “has always and since the start of the conflict demanded strict respect for international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians” and “condemned its violations,” recalled the diplomatic spokesperson. French, Christophe Lemoine in a press release.
Invited on Sud Radio this Friday, Republican Right MP Philippe Juvin considered that international institutions stood out for their primary anti-Israelism.
On the left, on the contrary, this decision provoked a completely different reaction. “The ICC's decision against Netanyahu and Gallant is the indisputable consequence of their strategy of annihilation, still at work,” said the head of the Ecologists Marine Tondelier on X.
