This is an unexpected turnaround. This Wednesday, November 27, France once again spoke out on the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and possibly his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Accused of war crimes in Gaza, the latter could claim immunity because their country is not party to the Rome Statute, we can read in a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Such immunities […] will have to be taken into consideration if the ICC were to ask us for their arrest and surrender,” we explain at the Quai d’Orsay.
Such an announcement surprised the international press. As he wrote The Orient-The Day November 26th, “France – like other European countries – had [jusque-là] pronounced with caution” on the ICC judgment. “Without going so far as to provoke the Jewish state, an ally,” she had recalled “his attachment to the independent work of the Court”, called for respect for international law in Gaza and condemned the violence committed on both sides during the war between Israel and Hamas. She also seemed at odds with Tel Aviv, for a “reversal in its positions
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