Politicised overreach on Israel undermines ICC’s standing

There may be a case in international law for the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister, Yoav Gallant. The war crimes charges against the leaders of a democratic nation while exercising Israeli’s legitimate right of self-defence during the war against Hamas in Gaza is an unprecedented intervention. The question is to what extent this undermines the moral authority of the ICC and global support for what should be an important, respected and impartial international legal institution.

If Prime Minister Netanyahu visited countries such as Australia or the UK that are signatories to the ICC, those countries would be obligated to arrest him and send him to The Hague for trial. Without unambiguously confirming this, Foreign Minister Penny Wong has seemingly indicated Australia would do so to uphold the rule of law. On the other hand, the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant have prompted Alexander Downer (who was foreign minister when Australia joined the ICC during the Howard Government) to call for a rethink of our membership.