ICC backtracks on Israel arrest warrants

Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have postponed a decision on whether arrest warrants should be issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

The delay came after the ICC allowed the UK to submit legal arguments against the jurisdiction over the issue.

According to court documents made public on Thursday, the UK filed a request with the ICC on June 10 to provide written observations on whether “the court can exercise jurisdiction over Israeli nationals, in circumstances where Palestine cannot exercise criminal jurisdiction over Israeli nationals (under) the Oslo Accords.”

 The UK’s brief pointed out that the court at the time ruled it would need to make a final decision on Israel’s claim that the Palestinian Authority’s request to join the ICC violates the Oslo Accords if and when an ICC prosecutor requests arrest warrants against Israeli nationals.

The UK’s argument is that the Palestinian authorities cannot have jurisdiction over Israeli nationals under the terms of the Oslo Accords, and so it cannot transfer that jurisdiction over to the ICC to prosecute Israelis.