Germany ‘will not arrest Netanyahu because of Nazi history’
Germany has suggested it will not arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he travels to the country because of its Nazi history.
Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is subject to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over alleged war crimes in Gaza, a move he has described as anti-Semitic.
A number of European countries, including the UK, have said they will respect the ICC’s decision.
But a spokesman for chancellor Olaf Scholz suggested it would not carry out such an arrest due to Germany’s history and unique relationship with Israel.
“I find it hard to imagine that arrests could be carried out in Germany on this basis,” said government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit.
Joe Biden, the US president, labelled the ICC’s decision to issue an arrest warrant “outrageous”.
In a statement issued by the White House, Mr Biden said: “The ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous.
“Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”
But Sir Keir Starmer has backed the ICC and Downing Street has not ruled out arresting Mr Netanyahu in the event he visits Britain.
Downing Street has insisted the Government “will always comply with its legal obligations as set out by domestic law and indeed international law”.
No 10 has refused to engage with the “hypothetical” question of whether the UK would arrest the Israeli PM.
The Hague-based ICC issued an arrest warrant for Mr Netanyahu as well as Yoav Gallant, the former Israeli defence minister, and Mohammed Deif, a Hamas commander, on Thursday over the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Britain, along with the other 123 members of the ICC, is responsible for enforcing arrest warrants it issues. The US is not signed up to the ICC.
Mr Netanyahu’s office said Israel “utterly rejects the false and absurd charges of the International Criminal Court”.
Mr Gallant said the court’s decision “places the state of Israel and the murderous leaders of Hamas in the same row and thus legitimises the murder of babies, the rape of women and the abduction of the elderly from their beds”.
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Source: telegraph.co.uk
