In Jerusalem, the image remains engraved in memories. This October 18, 2023, Israel is barely aware of the trauma that Hamas has just inflicted on it eleven days earlier, by massacring nearly 1,200 people. It is a country in shock which sees this slightly shaky president, an octogenarian, at the head of the leading world power, arrive on the tarmac of Ben Gurion airport. Joe Biden comes as a friend, he who fell in love with Israel when meeting Golda Meir fifty years ago. His first words? “Don’t make the same mistakes we did after 9/11, don’t let yourself be consumed by anger.”
Seven months later, it is precisely these errors that the Attorney General of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, has sanctioned by requesting an arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu and his Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant. The magistrate is not targeting the war as such, but the methods used by Israel in the Gaza Strip. His main line of accusation: the orchestration of a large-scale famine.
Consequences now for Netanyahu
“This is an extremely important development,” said Anthony Dworkin, international law specialist at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “If these international arrest warrants are issued, as is likely to be the case in the coming months, come, ICC member states (including all European Union countries and the United Kingdom) will have an obligation to arrest targeted individuals on their territory. It is unclear when these warrants will be issued. will be issued, this uncertainty may limit Netanyahu and Gallant’s ability to travel even before the judges make their decision.”
On the defensive, Israel reacted strongly to the indictment of the ICC Prosecutor General, believing that it was being put on an equal footing with Hamas. However, there is no equal sign between the two camps, a democratic state on one side, a terrorist organization on the other. Karim Khan targets the leaders of the Palestinian group for the atrocities committed on October 7, with no way back. For Israel, the right to defend itself is highlighted and there are several possibilities to escape arrest warrants: for Israeli justice to seriously take up the case, for humanitarian aid to finally arrive, for the war to end. stops or takes a new form, with less urban bombing. “The prospect of arrest warrants could encourage the end of the war in Gaza by showing that the actions of both camps have consequences, poses Anthony Dworkin. It also marginalizes Netanyahu and encourages the election of a government [israélien] on a less hard line.”
As a friend of Israel, Joe Biden considers Karim Khan’s request “scandalous”. For months, however, the US president implored the Israeli government to let enough humanitarian aid into Gaza, well aware of the tragic consequences of such a blockage. But it is not too late for Israel: international arrest warrants have not yet been issued and food aid is reaching Palestinian civilians more in recent days. It is now up to Israelis to show that the spirit of vengeance has not consumed them.