Israeli politicians from across the political spectrum condemned the International Criminal Court’s decision on Thursday to issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the warrants mean that the ICC has “lost all legitimacy for its existence and activity,” as “it acted as a political instrument [wielded by] the most radical forces working to undermine peace, security and stability in the Middle East.”
The warrants are “in fact an attack on Israel’s right to defend itself,” he wrote, calling on “all decent countries and people” to reject them.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, a harsh critic of Netanyahu, tweeted: “I condemned the decision of the court in The Hague. Israel is defending its existence from terrorist groups that attacked, murdered and raped out citizens. These arrest warrants are a prize for terrorism.”
The court in The Hague announced on Thursday it would act on the recommendation of prosecutor Karim Khan to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas leader Mohammed Deif, who is dead according to the Israeli military.
Amir Ohana, speaker of the Knesset and a top member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, wrote: “Targeting the democratically elected leaders of Israel, the Middle East’s only democracy and the world’s only Jewish state, is nothing short of an assault on justice, truth and the universal right of self-defense.”
Education Minister Yoav Kisch wrote that the decision “will deter neither us nor the State of Israel from striking its enemies without hesitation until a total victory.”
Benny Gantz, another prominent opposition leader, called the ICC’s decision “moral blindness and a shameful stain of historic proportions that will never be forgotten.”
Yair Golan, the leader of the Democrats Party—perhaps the most left-of-center of the Zionist political parties in Israel—wrote that the decision was “shameful,” adding: “Israel has always had and will always have the right to defend itself from our enemies.”
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, a right-wing critic of Netanyahu, wrote: “Israel is fighting … the most just of wars against pure evil. All Israelis, left and right, stand behind the war, whose goals are to release the kidnapped Israelis, demolish Hamas and restore security to Israel. Shame on ICC.”
Avigdor Liberman, another right-wing critic of Netanyahu and who served under him as foreign minister, said the decision “reflects the double morals and hypocrisy of the international community and the United Nations.”
The ICC is not part of the United Nations but its tribunal, the International Court of Justice, which like the ICC is also based in The Hague, is similarly reviewing criminal charges brought against Israel in connection with its war on Hamas in Gaza.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev called Thursday’s decision “modern antisemitism disguised as justice.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote that Israel’s response to the arrest warrants should be annexing “all the territories of Judea and Samaria; establishing settlements in all parts of the country and severing all ties with the terrorist authority [the Palestinian Authority], as well as applying sanctions [against it.]”
The United States and Israel are among the dozens of countries that have not signed the ICC charter and are therefore not subject to its rulings. However, countries that are, including E.U. member states, are bound by the charter to enforce its rulings and arrest warrants.