Britain said on Friday it would not proceed with efforts to question whether the International Criminal Court (ICC) has jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
A senior Israeli official said the decision was disappointing. "This decision is fundamentally mistaken and is contrary to truth and justice and is harmful to the right of all democracies to fight against terror," he said.
In May, the ICC's prosecutor said he had requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and three Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes.
In June, the British government under conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak, filed a request with the court to examine the ICC’s jurisdiction on the matter as requested by Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan. Consequently, the decision to issue the arrest warrants has been postponed by several weeks.
Britain's Conservative government, like the U.S. government and in almost complete coordination, has taken a very firm and friendly stance toward Israel. But with the historic change of government in Great Britain under the leadership of the new Labour government of U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, London is expected to enact a policy change regarding Israel the way it is conducting the war, the New York Times reported, on Thursday, citing two British sources.
"On the ICC submission... I can confirm the government will not be pursuing (the proposal) in line with our long-standing position that this is a matter for the court to decide on," the spokesperson told reporters. (Reporting by Alistair Smout, editing by William James)