The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has postponed its decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country's Defense Minister Yoav Galant.
This was stated in a message from the court’s press service on Friday, June 28.
Court postpones issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli leaders
The report states that the reason for the postponement was the UK's application to submit observations regarding the ICC's jurisdiction over Israel.
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The ICC granted this request and also granted other countries the right to submit comments in advance. The ICC panel ruled that the decision to grant such a right to the UK “could lead to other requests”.
By court order, the observations and the debate on them can be made public, although the procedures for issuing arrest warrants are usually kept secret.
The Jerusalem Post noted that under such circumstances, the process of issuing arrest warrants could “easily drag on” for months.
It is unknown whether this decision also means a delay in issuing arrest warrants for the leaders of the Islamist movement Hamas, which the EU, Canada, USA, Israel and Japan recognize as a terrorist organization.
Recall that in May, ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan requested arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Galant, as well as three leaders of the Palestinian Hamas movement. They are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
