The Elysée was careful not to make the slightest official comment. The Quai d'Orsay has multiplied the declarations, most often convoluted. The embarrassment of the French authorities regarding the arrest warrants issued Thursday, November 21 by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, catches the eye as much as it raises questions.
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The two men are being prosecuted by the Court, in the context of the war in Gaza launched against Hamas following the massacre of October 7, 2023, as co-authors of “war crimes for the use of starvation as a method of combat, and co-perpetrators of crimes against humanity for murder, persecution and other inhumane acts”. Both are now likely to be arrested if they set foot on the soil of one of the 124 countries, including France, signatories to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC in 1998.
However, no one is capable, within the French executive, of officially ensuring that the ICC decision will indeed be applied, in the event of a visit to France by the Israeli leader and his former minister, dismissed from office. his duties at the beginning of November. Since November 21 and the ICC's announcement, Jean-Noël Barrot has endeavored to explain the French position, not without taking infinite precautions.
“France is very attached to international justice and very attached to the ICC being able to work in complete independence”said the Minister of Foreign Affairs on France 3 on Sunday. “The ICC has issued an arrest warrant which is the formalization of an accusation against certain Israeli officials”he added. But when asked whether Netanyahu would be arrested in the event of a visit to France, Mr. Barrot preferred to point out: “France will always apply international law”he replied, without specifying the substance of his thoughts. Thursday, November 21, the spokesperson for the Quai d'Orsay, Christophe Lemoine, in response to a question on the same subject, simply said that it was a “legally complex question”.
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This restraint contrasts with the position taken by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell. The decision was barely known, the latter affirmed that the arrest warrants must be “respected and applied”. Among the signatory countries of the Rome Statute, some have welcomed the initiative of the Court of The Hague, like Ireland, which, through its Prime Minister, Simon Harris, spoke of “extremely significant measure”. Others, such as Belgium, Norway and the Netherlands, immediately announced that they would comply with the ICC's decisions. Nothing of the sort in Paris, where people say at best, in private, that they will rely on French justice in the event that MM. Netanyahu and Gallant would enter national soil.
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