Middle East & Africa | Israel’s most wanted

The arrest warrant is a diplomatic disaster for Netanyahu

But may also undermine the International Criminal Court

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant hold a press conference in Tel Aviv
Photograph: Reuters
|DUBAI AND WASHINGTON, DC

FOR MONTHS the decision seemed both inevitable and improbable. On November 21st it finally came. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Yoav Gallant, until recently the defence minister (pictured right). They are accused of overseeing war crimes during Israel’s year-long war in Gaza against Hamas, a Palestinian militant group. The court also indicted the top commander of Hamas, which carried out a massacre of Israelis that triggered Israel’s assault on Gaza. But it is the charges against the two Israeli politicians that are the real earthquake: a diplomatic disaster for Mr Netanyahu, and perhaps also for the court itself.

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