Yehuda Cohen, who is the father of Israeli-American hostage Nimrod Cohen, met with the attorney general of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of using the arrest warrant issued to against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to push the head of the Israeli government to implement the ceasefire agreement that was concluded with Hamas in its entirety.
According to the Kan public broadcaster, Cohen asked Karim Khan to work with the Israeli government to bring a definitive end to the war in Gaza, and asked him to ensure that the ceasefire agreement fire is not interrupted until the release of all hostages still in captivity in Gaza.
Nimrod Cohen, a 19-year-old Israeli army soldier, was kidnapped while at the Nahal Oz military post during the pogrom committed by the Hamas terrorist group in southern Israel on July 7. October 2023. He is expected to be released during the second phase of the agreement that was reached between the two parties – an agreement whose first phase began on Sunday and which will last 42 days.
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Cohen allegedly asked Khan to use the arrest warrant issued against Netanyahu – an arrest warrant that had been issued in November for war crimes and crimes against humanity, crimes that allegedly was committed during the war in Gaza – as a means of putting pressure on the Prime Minister so as to persuade the latter to extend the duration of the ceasefire with Hamas. Cohen has not publicly said how exactly he hopes the threat of this arrest warrant can be exploited.
In addition, Cohen reportedly discussed the Israeli government’s refusal to form a commission of inquiry to examine the October 7 massacre and the subsequent war in the coastal enclave, and he also spoke about recent attempts by the government to relaunch its controversial program to radically overhaul the justice system, a program that had largely remained on hold since the bloody Hamas attack.
After Khan requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last July, Israel reportedly been informed that the establishment of a commission of inquiry could have prevented their release.
Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, announces that he has requested the issuance of arrest warrants from the court’s judges for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh. (Credit: International Criminal Court)
State commissions of inquiry are generally headed by a retired Supreme Court justice who is appointed by the chief justice. As such, they are considered internationally as a sign of an independent judicial system, of a system capable of carrying out investigations launched into accusations made against a country – which thus avoids the need for a external intervention.
As was also the case with the government’s refusal to form a commission of inquiry, critics of the plan to radically overhaul the judicial system put forward by the coalition have long warned that a weakening of the Israeli judicial system could expose IDF officials and political figures to criminal prosecution before international courts – such as the ICC – if Israel were to give the impression that it was henceforth unable to investigate its failings.
-In a recent interview with Reuters, Khan said he believed Israel had made “no real effort” to investigate the war crimes charges and remained convinced that its decision to issuing arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his former defense minister had been right.
“We position ourselves as a court of last resort and, as we speak, we have seen no real effort on the part of the State of Israel to take steps that would respond to established jurisprudence – with investigations that would be carried out concerning the same suspects for the same facts,” he told the press agency.
If Israel were to launch investigations into the accusations made against it, the case could however be referred to the domestic courts, in accordance with so-called “complementary” principles, he added.
The meeting between Cohen and Khan followed a heated session of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee last week. Cohen then warned the committee members that he was prepared to go before the ICC and say that Netanyahu had committed “war crimes” not only against the Palestinians, but also against Israelis.
He recalled that 400 IDF soldiers had lost their lives in the fighting in Gaza and indicated that “if these arrest warrants can get Netanyahu to abandon his personal interests and reach a deal that will include every last one of the hostages, then that’s what I’ll do.”
Yehuda Cohen, father of hostage Nimrod Cohen, speaks during a meeting of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee at the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 13, 2025. (Knesset)
In response, a Likud MP, Eliyahu Revivo, said his statement was “worthy of contempt” and condemned his “son to Hamas jails for many more years”.
An estimated 91 of the 251 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza – including the bodies of at least 34 captives whose deaths were confirmed by the Israeli military.
Three hostages were released at the start of the week, at the start of the ceasefire agreement which will take place in three phases. The terrorist group released 105 civilians during a week-long truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released earlier. Eight captives were rescued alive by troops, and the bodies of 40 hostages were found – including three who had been accidentally killed by Israeli soldiers while trying to escape their captors.
Hamas also holds two Israeli civilians who entered the Gaza Strip in 2014 and 2015 respectively, as well as the remains of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2010.
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