Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the UK government to prosecute and arrest war cabinet minister Benny Gantz for his trip to US and then UK without first notifying the Netanyahu government.
Israeli media reported this Friday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the UK to prosecute and arrest his political rival and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz for his trip to Washington and then London without first notifying the Netanyahu government.
As the report noted, Gantz should have first notified the government to grant his visit official delegation status but he didn’t. “Without this status, Israeli leaders would not have immunity from arrest on war crimes charges when traveling abroad,” the report said.
Before Gantz’s trip to London, the UK government filed the paperwork to demand Israel a delegation official status grant for Gantz trip. However, the Israeli side didn’t cooperate apparently by the direct order of Netanyahu himself.
“The UK had initially worked with the Israeli Foreign Ministry to prepare the designation letter for the official delegation, but the ministry severed contact regarding the matter, apparently under instructions from Netanyahu’s office,” the report noted.
As Gantz is still in London, the UK government is also still trying to resolve the issue and is working with the UK embassy in Israel to complete the necessary paperwork to make official Gantz’s visit.
Early this week, Israeli media reported that in a surprise trip, Gantz would travel to Washington and from there to London to meet American and British officials and discuss current development on the Gaza war. Gantz, however, didn’t comply by Israel’s regulations for foreign trips of its officials by not notifying the government of his foreign voyage, a move that sparked Netanyahu’s fury.
Netanyahu and Gantz both at risk of foreign arrest!
the story of tensions between Netanyahu and Gantz is not new. However, opposing views between the two have unprecedentedly increased since the war in Gaza began on October 7. Gantz has rebuked Netanyahu’s war policies and is now considered his top critic in the Israeli government.
No surprise that Netanyahu now views Gantz as a possible rival who could take his position as prime minister, a scenario that many polls suggest would happen if an early election is held in Israel.
But while Netanyahu is hoping to grant an arrest for Gantz in the UK, every Israeli official, including Netanyahu himself is now at risk of arrest if they put foot on a foreign territory.
It was indeed back in 2020, when several reports emerged suggesting that the International Criminal Court (ICC) would launch a war crimes investigation against Israel and issue secret arrest warrants for Israeli officials it considered suspects.
Back then, ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in an official statement that “all the statutory criteria under the Rome statute for the opening of an investigation against Israel’s crimes in Palestine have been met,” adding that “I am satisfied war crimes have been or are being committed in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, and Israeli officials could be arrested outside Israel by the order of the Court.”
Since then, Israeli officials can legally be subject to arrest in foreign countries, although none has been apprehended so far. But since the start of Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza on 7 October, which is widely viewed as genocide, Israeli officials have felt the fear. And with South Africa opening up a genocide case against Israel in the ICJ, every Israeli official can be apprehended by any country, if only there is political will to do so.
