Knesset Speaker: ICC Prosecutor Denies Israel’s Right to Self-Defense by Seeking Arrest Warrants
Opening the first session of the Knesset’s summer legislative term, Speaker Amir Ohana declared, “The International Criminal Court in The Hague has proven to the world that it is not legitimate.”
Ohana condemned the ICC prosecutor’s recent actions, stating, “I cannot begin this session without addressing the scandalous decision by the ICC prosecutor to equate the State of Israel with the murderous terrorist organization Hamas. Hamas has kidnapped, tortured, burned, butchered, and murdered Jews for their Jewishness and Israelis for their Israeliness.”
On Monday, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced his intention to seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh.
Ohana criticized the ICC’s inability to distinguish “between the aggressor and the defender, between a democracy that respects human rights and a terrorist organization dedicated to its destruction in the name of extreme Islam and murderous fanaticism.” He asserted that such an institution poses a danger to humanity.
He further argued that “Prosecutor Khan’s decision” undermines Israel’s right to self-defense and will be remembered as a moment when international legal institutions lost their moral direction.
