Tel Aviv has threatened to retaliate against the Palestinian Authority (PA) if the International Criminal Court (ICC) issues arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials over the Gaza war, according to a report.
Israel has been increasingly concerned about the possibility of the ICC issuing arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the Israel Defense Forces, news website Axios reported, citing two anonymous Israeli and American officials.
Israel has told the United States that it has information that Palestinian Authority officials are pressuring the ICC prosecutor to issue the orders.
Israel could choose to retain tax revenue from the Palestinian Authority, which it collects and then distributes to the government. Economic retaliation could lead to the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, which administers some areas of the occupied West Bank under the historic 1993 Oslo Accords.
The ICC has been leading an investigation since 2021 into possible war crimes committed by Israel and Palestinian groups dating back to 2014. The investigation has grown to include ongoing attacks in the war in Gaza.
A US official told Axios that Washington believes arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials would be a mistake, stating: “We are quietly encouraging the ICC not to do so. It will blow everything up. “Israel wants to retaliate against the Palestinian Authority.”
On Tuesday, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby reiterated the US position that it does not support the ongoing ICC investigation, but emphasized that the Joe Biden administration “certainly would not support the judges of the ICC or anywhere else are intimidated or threatened.” “.