Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who served from June 2021 to June 2022, said on Wednesday that the International Criminal Court (ICC) should be “dismantled and defunded” following the “shameful” attempt to arrest current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of War Crimes Yoav Galant.
“This is a shameful moment for the ICC. This is a complete joke because they are trying to usurp the leadership of a democratic country that is fighting a terrorist group…We completely reject this,” Bennett said. Said Wednesday on FOX News Digital.
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Bennett said the ICC had allowed itself to become a “political tool” of Israel’s enemies.
“It’s a travesty. It’s not about evidence. It’s not about facts. It’s about politics and it’s a well-known fact that these international institutions have been used many times by Israel’s enemies to try to tie our hands while we fight the world’s worst jihadist terrorists,” he said.
“We are being accused of trying to starve Gazans, but if you look at the evidence, we have received 24,000 trucks, 400,000 tons of food and aid. This is 30 percent more than before October 7,” he noted.
“We have done everything we can to reduce civilian casualties, but Hamas is doing everything it can to increase civilian casualties. And yet Israel is being blamed. We totally reject this. We need to continue and defeat Hamas. That is the best response to all of this,” he said.
Bennett said ICC prosecutor Karim Khan I was demanded to Arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu, Mr. Gallant and three Hamas leaders.
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“The request for prosecution is a shameful moment for the ICC and the world community. It also represents a major boost to global jihadist terrorism,” he said. Said on the social media platform Twitter.
“There should be no ICC that compares those who commit deliberate murderous acts – raping women and burning babies – with those who defend themselves. It’s time for decent countries to stop funding the ICC,” Bennett said Monday.
Bennett has been a strong defender of Israel’s Gaza operation from the start, saying in February that Israel had “no choice but to win.”
“I will not be reprimanded for protecting my children and defending my country. I fought in a war. We hate war. Israelis do not like war. We started this war. “I didn’t do it,” he said. Said During a controversial interview with talk show host Piers Morgan.
When Morgan asked how Israel would know Hamas had been defeated, Bennett replied: “When they raise the white flag and surrender, or when we kill them.”
“Tell me which country in the world you would want to live next to a Hamas-supporting country that is now saying clearly that if Hamas is not eradicated, they will repeat the October 7th massacre over and over again,” he asked.
The Bennett administration in 2021-2022 A lot of effort Improve relations with the Palestinians, including promising more humanitarian aid and infrastructure investment in exchange for security. This has been accompanied by a tough response to Hamas’s provocations, but Bennett and his advisers are wary of escalating into the kind of military operations that Prime Minister Netanyahu is currently pursuing, in part due to This was because they wanted to focus on the growing nuclear threat from Japan.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who served as prime minister before Bennett and then returned to the post, has used a similar “turf-cutting” strategy to rein in Hamas’ influence, showing that a more cooperative approach to Gaza will pay off. Ta. In the wake of the October 7 atrocities, both appear to have abandoned this approach.
Bennett shortly after the Hamas attack Said He bears some responsibility for the terror caused by terrorist groups.
“I was prime minister for 12 months and, without going into details, my government collapsed because there was no time to do things that could have dramatically changed the situation,” he said, while also criticizing Netanyahu for allowing Hamas to receive funding from Qatar to appease the terrorist leader.
Israel’s opponents generally Indignant This comes from Karim Khan, the ICC prosecutor seeking to have Netanyahu arrested for war crimes. Support for the current Israeli prime minister has solidified sharply this week, with even the most strident opposition newspapers denouncing Khan’s “intolerable courage.”
Ironically, Mr. Khan may have given Mr. Netanyahu a huge political favor. That’s because the prime minister came under considerable domestic criticism last week, in addition to international pressure to call for a ceasefire. Some of that criticism came from Mr. Gallant, who was angry that the prime minister did not come up with a firm plan to govern Gaza after Hamas’s defeat.
