Labour govt won’t challenge ICC’s Netanyahu arrest warrant request

The British government has abandoned plans to oppose the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) application for an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

"This proposal by the previous government was not submitted before the election, and I can confirm that the current Government will not pursue it, in line with our longstanding position that this is a matter for the court to decide," said a spokeswoman for the UK's new Labour government, which took office earlier this month, replacing the Conservative government led by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

In May, ICC prosecutor Karim AA Khan announced he was seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders – including Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar – on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. While the ICC has no enforcement mechanism, its member states are obligated to cooperate fully with its decisions. If granted, the warrants could result in the arrest of Netanyahu and others when traveling to the 124 countries that are ICC members, including Germany and the United Kingdom.

The international court must still assess submissions from other powers before deciding whether to grant the arrest warrants. Israel has faced significant criticism over the scale and force of its military campaign in Gaza, launched after the Hamas-led October 7 terror attacks, which killed at least 1,200 people and abducted more than 250 others. The conflict has resulted in mass displacement, destruction, and famine in Gaza, with over 39,000 Palestinians killed and another 90,403 injured since the offensive began, according to the Ministry of Health in the Palestinian enclave.

The UK’s governing Labour party and its leader, former human rights lawyer Keir Starmer, have faced pressure from supporters to take a tougher stance on the Gaza war. On Thursday, US Vice President Kamala Harris vowed "not to be silent" about human suffering in Gaza, speaking to reporters after her meeting with Netanyahu in Washington. The White House has also faced increasing pressure to ease the suffering of Palestinian civilians under bombardment, which has included the use of US munitions.

Although Israel and the United States are not members of the ICC, the court claims jurisdiction over Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank after Palestinian leaders formally agreed to be bound by the court’s founding principles in 2015. The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, and deliberately targeting civilians in conflict,” Khan told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in May. "The fact that Hamas fighters need water doesn’t justify denying water to the entire civilian population of Gaza," he added.

Israeli lawmakers have vehemently condemned the ICC's application, with Netanyahu calling the decision “a political outrage,” and Israel’s President Isaac Herzog describing the announcement as “beyond outrageous.”