Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz called on France to condemn the request of the Prosecutor General of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s Defence Minister Yoav Galant. This was reported by the newspaper Le Figaro.
“I am addressing my friend the French Foreign Minister. Faced with this disgraceful and scandalous proposal by the Attorney General, your support and that of the French government is crucial,” the Israeli Foreign Minister said.
The Israeli foreign minister emphasised: it is important that Paris “loud and clear” that the proposal of ICC Attorney General Karim Khan “is shameful and therefore unacceptable to you and the French government”.
The newspaper recalled that in a statement issued Monday night, the French Foreign Ministry initially emphasised that Paris “supports the International Criminal Court, its independence and the fight against impunity in all situations”.
A little later, on Tuesday afternoon, answering questions in the National Assembly, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejournet clarified the Fifth Republic’s position, emphasising that “these simultaneous requests for arrest warrants should not create an equivalence between Hamas and Israel.”
Earlier, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said that Washington denies the legitimacy of the International Criminal Court and uses various sanctions pressure when this structure affects the interests of the United States and its allies.
