The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to issue arrest warrants against the Israeli prime minister, his former defence minister and a Hamas military leader has been described as a symbolic decision without practical implications.

The ICC’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan last week issued arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant and Hamas military leader Ibrahim al Masri on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Netanyahu’s office has responded to the issuing of the arrest warrants, saying “Israel rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions levelled against it by the ICC”.

Khan announced that the ICC judges had accepted his request to issue the arrest warrants against the three men for their complicity in the current war that began on October 7, 2023 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing more than 1 200 people mostly civilians and for the abduction of another 250.

Israel retaliated with a major military assault on Gaza, which Hamas controls, and the death toll has climbed to more than 40 000.

Khan‘s office had also applied for warrants of arrests for Yahya Sinwar, then head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and Ismail Haniyeh, former head of the Hamas Political Bureau, but later withdrew them following evidence confirming their deaths.

“With respect to Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, more commonly known as Deif, Commander-in-Chief of the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ‘Hamas’, known as the Al-Qassam Brigades, the judges of the ICC have found reasonable grounds to believe that he is responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder, extermination, torture, and rape and other forms of sexual violence; as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture, taking hostages, outrages upon personal dignity, and rape and other forms of sexual violence.

“With respect to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Israeli Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant, the judges of the International Criminal Court have found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that each has committed the war crime of using starvation as a method of warfare and crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts, as a direct perpetrator, acting jointly with others,” Khan said.

Unisa Professor Emeritus of International Law Andre Thomashausen said the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant reflect the “impotence” of the ICC and the organs of the United Nations to influence or mitigate armed conflicts.

“A new state practice for the use of armed force for causes considered legitimate, has evolved.

“Tragically, the world had regressed to the notion of ‘just war’.”

Thomashausen said this had resulted in the repeated issuing of warrants of arrest against heads of state or prime ministers in the absence of legal jurisdiction.

“The US, China, India, Russia or Israel are not bound by the ICC jurisdiction and it can only undermine the authority of the ICC if its acts outside its own legality,” Thomashausen said.

Justice Minister Thembi Simelane said South Africa, alongside other nations, had consistently called for accountability to address the atrocities committed against Palestinians.

“This step by the ICC is a vindication of South Africa’s position, which has been canvassed extensively before the International Court of Justice.

“No individual, government official, or even a nation-state is considered to be above the rules established by international laws and conventions. The ICC’s action sends a powerful message that accountability is not optional but a cornerstone of a just and equitable global order,” Simelane said.

THE MERCURY