UK halts ICC Netanyahu arrest warrant challenge

Never before in the history of the International Criminal Court have so many countries tried to block arrest warrants for people suspected of war crimes.

Not long after ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan requested arrest warrants for Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu and his minister of military affairs, Yoav Gallant, the UK, Germany, the US and others, joined forces to try and scupper or delay the warrants.

Others such as Norway, Spain and South Africa came out in favor of the ICC ruling.

• UK stops challenging ICC right to seek arrest warrants for Israeli officials
  

  UK stops challenging ICC right to seek arrest warrants against Israeli officials

  UK stops challenging ICC right to seek arrest warrants against Israeli officials.

However, in a reversal of plans announced by the former British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and under mounting public pressure, the UK's new Labour government has said it is pulling out of the process.

While welcomed as a step in the right direction, it was blasted by Israel lobby groups such as the board of Deputies of British Jews, who expressed concern about its cumulative effect on Israel.

• US pressuring UK to protect Netanyahu against ICC
  

  US pressuring UK to protect Netanyahu against ICC: Report

  The US is reportedly pressuring the UK not to drop its legal challenge to the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s right to seek an arrest warrant against the Israeli premier.

The core tenet of the US led legal challenge is that the ICC has no jurisdiction to prosecute Israeli leaders, an argument international law experts call tenuous at best.

Palestine has jurisdiction and can bring that claim because it is a party to the ICC and the Rome Statute.

Now, one legal principle to note, and which is a principle that Israel may use, is to say, well, we can investigate the crimes, because ICC has what is known as complementary jurisdiction.

It allows a country to investigate its crimes, but it is highly unlikely, as we've seen in the last year, for Israel to hold its own politicians and warmongers accountable.

Dr Imranali Panjwani, Lawyer and Academic

• ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister
  

  ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister

  A panel of ICC judges will consider the chief prosecutor

Dr Panjwani believes the arrest warrants will be issued a few months later than expected.

The same court took only a month to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin; not a single country intervened.

Well that's a piece of string.

Could be one month, could be several months, so I think it will occur.

But it may take time, because it is not in the political interests of the major players, or, as it was, in the political interests of the US to have an arrest warrant issued for Vladimir Putin.

Dr Imranali Panjwani, Lawyer and Academic

• UK drops plan to challenge ICC over Netanyahu arrest warrant
  

  New British govt. bends, drops plan to challenge ICC over Netanyahu arrest warrant

  Britain’s new government says it will drop its predecessor’s challenge to arrest warrants sought by the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor for the Zionist entity’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Downing Street announced on Friday.

He also believes the decision to allow 64 interventions shows how politically sensitive the case is.

The ICC has long been accused of being a colonial court focusing only on African war criminals, but with the case against Netanyahu, the court is sending a message that no one is above the law.

Now that the UK has dropped its legal challenge against those arrest warrants, Palestinian rights activists are hoping that it will support the ICJ and ICC rulings and as immediate first steps, imposes an arms embargo on Tel Aviv and a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements.

• Britain should stop arming Israel after ICJ advisory ruling
  

  Britain should stop arming Israel after ICJ advisory ruling: Top lawyer

  The International Court of Justice has ruled that the UK should not “render aid or assistance” to the Zionist regime.

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