Representatives of the political groups appeared divided on Tuesday 26 November over the follow-up to the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity (see EUROPE 13529/3, 13530/13).
“We talk about international law when we talk about China and Russia, but now that some of our allies are facing the same problem, we hear silence, protests and even denials. If the arrest warrant is denied, criminal law no longer has any value”, said Hilde Vautmans (Renew Europe, Belgian), wondering how to ensure that the ICC’s decision is respected by all Member States.
Catarina Vieira (Greens/EFA, Portuguese) deplored the fact that the arrest warrant for Mr Netanyahu had done nothing to change the behaviour of Europeans. “We are continuing to export arms, we are doing business as usual and some Member States are denying the validity of the arrest warrant”, she denounced.
“Ursula von der Leyen’s silence and the half-hearted response of certain Member States are shameful, the credibility of the EU is in tatters”, added Lynn Boylan (The Left, Irish), adding that continuing to trade with Israel meant “being an accomplice” of the Jewish State and that Israel should be sanctioned.
But according to Bert-Jan Ruissen (ECR, Dutch), those countries that “blindly follow the ICC and are ready to arrest Netanyahu” are mistaken. “Countries have their own responsibilities. They at least have an obligation to check that the basis for the arrest warrant is sound, and there is considerable doubt about that”, he said.
According to Jorge Martín Frías (PfE, Spanish), placing the leader of Hamas, a terrorist organisation, on the same level as the Prime Minister of a democratic country “is a lack of clarity that shows that multilateralism is rotten and fed by the weakest ideas of Islamo-leftism”.
On the same day, the G7 Foreign Ministers promised that they would respect their “respective obligations” regarding the ICC arrest warrants. Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and Italy recognise the ICC, but the United States does not. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)