“The Prime Minister’s office is concerned that the ICC will soon issue arrest warrants for (Benjamin) Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as IDF (army) Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi,” a source said. Israeli diplomat to The Jerusalem Post.
“Where is (US President Joe) Biden? “Why is he silent while Israel is potentially being thrown under the bus?” the source said.
The Israeli source argued that the Hague-based court could not act against Netanyahu and senior military officials without overt or tactical support from the United States.
Israeli analyst Ben Caspit said Netanyahu was “under unusual stress” at the prospect of an ICC arrest warrant against him and other Israeli officials.
Netanyahu was leading “relentless pressure over the phone” to prevent an arrest warrant, especially focused on the Biden administration, he wrote on the Walla news site.
Israel and the United States are not members of the ICC and do not recognize its jurisdiction.
Palestine was admitted as a member of the Hague-based tribunal in 2015.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry has previously ordered its embassies around the world to be prepared for possible repercussions if the ICC issues arrest warrants against Israeli officials for war crimes and human rights violations in Gaza.
Israel has waged a brutal offensive against the Palestinian enclave since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on October 1. 7 last year, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.
Since then, nearly 34,500 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 77,600 have been injured amid massive destruction and severe shortages of essential items.
More than six months into the Israeli war, vast areas of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.
Israel is accused of genocide before the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take steps to ensure humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.