‘Pouring Gasoline on the Fires of Antisemitism’

The outrageous decision by ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan to seek arrest warrants against democratically elected leaders of Israel is a moral outrage on a historic scale. It would leave an eternal disgrace on the international tribunal.

Israel is waging a just war against Hamas, the genocidal terrorist organization that carried out the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Hamas massacred 1,200 Jews, raped Jewish women, burned Jewish babies, and took hundreds hostage.

Now, in the face of these fears, Mr. Khan is creating a distorted and false moral equivalency between Israeli leaders and Hamas minions. This is like creating a moral equivalence between President Bush and Osama bin Laden after September 11th, or between FDR and Hitler during World War II.

What a travesty of justice!

What a shame!

The prosecutor’s absurd charges against me and the Israeli Defense Minister are nothing more than an attempt to deny Israel’s fundamental right to self-defense. And I guarantee you one thing. This attempt will completely fail.

Eighty years ago, Jews were completely defenseless against their enemies. Those days are over. Now the Jewish people have a state and we have an army to protect our state.

Despite the blood libel spilled by Mr. Khan, Israel will continue this war in full compliance with international law. We will continue to take unprecedented steps to remove innocent civilians from danger and ensure humanitarian aid reaches those in need in Gaza.

Mr. Khan has also set a dangerous precedent that undermines all democratic rights to protect ourselves from terrorist organizations and aggressors. The ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel, and Mr. Khan’s actions do not prevent us from waging a just war against Hamas.

But if Khan abuses this power, the ICC will become a farce.

he’s doing something else. He is ruthlessly pouring gasoline on the fires of anti-Semitism raging around the world. This inflammatory decision places Mr. Khan among the greatest anti-Semites of our time. He now stands in court alongside the infamous German judges who denied Jews their most basic rights and upheld laws that enabled the Nazis to commit some of history’s worst crimes.

Two weeks ago, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, I made this vow. No amount of pressure or decisions taken in international forums will prevent Israel from defending itself against those who seek our destruction.

To all enemies of Israel, including our collaborators in The Hague, I renew that vow today. Israel will continue the war until it wins against Hamas. Because now there will never be another.

Prime Minister Netanyahu also said in Hebrew: “This is just the new anti-Semitism. It has been moved from Western campuses to the courts in The Hague.”

It is not clear how Khan intends to enforce the ICC’s presumptive warrant.

Separately, South Africa, joined by other sympathetic countries, has told another legal body, the International Court of Justice (IDJ), that Israel’s defensive war against genocidal terrorists is itself “genocide.” pressure to declare.