The International Criminal Court, which is seeking arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and defense secretary, is “totally useless” and has created a false moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said.
The British government criticized the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its decision to request arrest warrants for Israeli dignitaries, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and key Hamas figures. Speaking at a summit with the Austrian leadership in Vienna on Tuesday, British Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “This is a very inconvenient development. Of course no final decision has been taken yet, but it remains very inconvenient nonetheless.” said.
he continued, report of daily telegraph: “There is no moral equivalence between a democratic state exercising its legitimate right of self-defense and the terrorist organization Hamas. It is a mistake to confuse or obscure these two distinct entities.”
Sunak’s comments echo those made by US President Biden yesterday, who lifted Trump’s executive order on the ICC and said the court’s anti-Israel bias could be addressed, calling the warrant application “outrageous.” President Biden said, “No matter what this prosecutor says, there is no equal relationship between Israel and Hamas. We will always support Israel and stand up against threats to its security.”
The UK government’s position was highlighted by Cabinet minister Michael Gove on Tuesday. who said times: “There is a particular narrative that some people are currently trying to implement, and it is aimed at holding Israel to a higher standard than everyone else, a double standard. To delegitimize Israel for various reasons. ” He said the court was following a double standard and called for the arrest of Prime Minister Netanyahu, but not Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, who has waged war against his own territory over the course of a violent years-long civil war. He said he was not seeking his arrest.
However, the British government is about to be shaken up in a general election, and polls suggest it is likely to be replaced by a left-wing government that is said to be significantly less sympathetic to Israel than the Conservatives. David Lammy, Labor’s pick to be Britain’s next foreign secretary, is a SOAS and Harvard-trained lawyer who has used a legalistic approach to condone the ICC’s move against Israel, saying that the UK has agreed to a treaty establishing the court. As a signatory to the WTO, it stated that it had the following “legal obligations.” Get in line.
He was reported to have said: “Labour believes that the UK and all parties to the Rome Statute have a legal obligation to obey orders and warrants issued by the Court. Democrats who believe in the rule of law must obey it.” Lammy went on to accuse the Conservatives of going against the “international rule of law” by criticising the ICC, which may be true given that Conservative scepticism towards a European-only international court set up by the UK to keep Europe under control is slowly being used against it.
But Lamy’s interpretation of the law appears to be in conflict with the UK government’s own lawyers. On Monday, the Prime Minister’s anonymous spokesperson elaborated on his position, saying that given that Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute, the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu in any case. He stated that he did not have the authority to do so.
It was stated that According to Reuters: “This action will not help in terms of suspending the fighting, rescuing hostages or obtaining humanitarian aid…The UK, like other countries, does not yet recognize Palestine as a state and Israel is not a state party to Palestine. No “Roman Statute”.
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 21, 2024
