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‘Appalled’: Jewish Organizations Around the World React to ICC Arrest Warrants Against Israelis Over Gaza
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
Jewish organizations around the world reacted on Thursday to the International Criminal Court (ICC) issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief, Yoav Gallant.
The court announced that it issued the warrants for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Gaza, where Israel has been fighting the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas for the past year. An arrest warrant was also put out for Hamas terror leader Ibrahim al-Masri, better known as Mohammed Deif.
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) said it was “appalled” at the ruling against the two Israeli leaders. “This reckless, irresponsible decision is a gross distortion of international law that harms the court’s credibility, completely undermines its core mandate, and emboldens enemies of democracy around the world,” it wrote in a statement.
AJC continued, “Rather than acknowledging the reality that Israel’s military actions in Gaza are solely focused on defeating the internationally recognized terror organization Hamas, securing the safe return of the 101 hostages still held by the terror group, and protecting Israelis from further attack, the court embraced the false claims that Israel is acting with malicious intent toward Palestinians, restricting humanitarian aid as a tool of punishment, and deliberately attacking and harming civilians.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called the ICC’s decision a “shameful and wholly political action on the part of the court.”
“The ICC’s rationale is rooted in unsubstantiated and specious claims, which run counter to the realities on the ground in Gaza, and send a disturbing message equating Israel’s war of self-defense with Hamas’s terrorism,” the ADL added. “The court has ignored its own principles and practices in service of a political ruling. The court’s moral lapse only serves to further embolden extremists and incite violence against Jews and Israel. We urge global leaders to unequivocally reject the ICC’s wrong and dangerous decision.”
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) called on the US Congress to impose sanctions on the ICC for its ruling.
“The ICC has reached a new low in its morally bankrupt and legally baseless attacks against the Jewish state,” it wrote. “Congress must now act to sanction ICC officials.”
AIPAC, the foremost pro-Israel lobbying group in the US, argued that “Israel is our democratic ally fighting on the front lines against our shared enemies” and that “in the past, the ICC has also targeted the US, and today’s decision could set a precedent to be employed against America and other democratic countries.”
Internationally, Jewish organizations also lambasted the ICC’s decision.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany wrote on X that the warrants were an “absurdity.”
“Israel is defending itself against Islamist terror in Gaza and Lebanon after the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023,” the group added. “The semantic dualism alone of putting Israel on a par with Hamas borders on impudence and a completely misguided understanding of the role of an international criminal court as a result of anti-Israel propaganda.”
The president of the European Jewish Congress, Ariel Muzicant, said in a statement that “in issuing for the first time arrest warrants for leaders of a democratic country together with one for a dead terrorist [Deif], the ICC has shown itself to be no longer fit for purpose.”
Muzicant continued, “It is beyond shocking that the leaders of a democratic state defending its own citizens can be made into international fugitives after a brutal invasion with a terror organization that uses rape, murder, and kidnap as its principal tools of war.” He pointed out that “just this very week, the UN’s own agencies noted that Hamas have been looting dozens of aid trucks for their own population.”
The World Jewish Congress also made a statement, writing “The ICC’s decision not only undermines the pursuit of peace but also disregards the recognized right of a nation to act in self defense when facing the actions of Hamas, a recognized terrorist organization responsible for the attempted annihilation of Israel’s civilians.”
Argentina’s umbrella Jewish organization, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), said in a statement that the warrants “constitute a direct attack on the right of the State of Israel and all nations to defend themselves against the most brutal terrorism.”
“With this order, issued against leaders of a democratic country, the ICC has definitively chosen to position itself on the side of terror, criminalizing and internationally isolating the State of Israel in the context in which this country is fighting an existential war in its defense and in that of the free world,” DAIA continued. “It is imperative, once again, to remember the murders, rapes, and kidnappings of Oct. 7, 2023 against the Israeli population, which is why the representative entity of the Argentine Jewish community demands the immediate return to their homes of the 101 kidnapped people at the hands of Hamas terrorism.”
Countries that are party to the Statute of the International Criminal Court are now obliged to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant if they enter their territory. The US is not such a country, as it withdrew from the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the ICC. The ICC also has no jurisdiction over Israel as it is not a signatory to the Rome Statute. However, the ICC has asserted jurisdiction by accepting “Palestine” as a signatory in 2015, despite no such state being recognized under international law.
The post ‘Appalled’: Jewish Organizations Around the World React to ICC Arrest Warrants Against Israelis Over Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Says Its Missions in UAE Remain Open Despite Reported Security Threats
President Isaac Herzog meets on Dec. 5, 2022, with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi. Photo: GPO/Amos Ben Gershom
i24 News – Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that its missions to the United Arab Emirates are open on Friday and representatives continue to operate at the embassy in Abu Dhabi and the consulate in Dubai in cooperation with local authorities.
This includes, the statement underlined, ensuring the protection of Israeli diplomats.
On Thursday, reports appeared in Israeli media that Israel was evacuating most of its diplomatic staff in the UAE after the National Security Council heightened its travel warning for Israelis staying in the Gulf country for fear of an Iranian or Iran-sponsored attacks.
“We are emphasizing this travel warning given our understanding that terrorist organizations (the Iranians, Hamas, Hezbollah and Global Jihad) are increasing their efforts to harm Israel,” the NSC said in a statement.
After signing the Abraham Accords with Israel in 2020, the UAE has been among the closest regional allies of the Jewish state.
Israel is concerned about its citizens and diplomats being targeted in retaliatory attacks following its 12-day war against Iran last month.
Earlier this year, the UAE sentenced three citizens of Uzbekistan to death for last year’s murder of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Cohen.
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Hamas Says It Won’t Disarm Unless Independent Palestinian State Established
Palestinian Hamas terrorists stand guard on the day of the handover of hostages held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 22, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
Hamas said on Saturday that it would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established – a fresh rebuke to a key Israeli demand to end the war in Gaza.
Indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel aimed at securing a 60-day ceasefire in the Gaza war and deal for the release of hostages ended last week in deadlock.
On Tuesday, Qatar and Egypt, who are mediating ceasefire efforts, endorsed a declaration by France and Saudi Arabia outlining steps toward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and saying that as part of this Hamas must hand over its arms to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
In its statement, Hamas – which has dominated Gaza since 2007 but has been militarily battered by Israel in the war – said it could not yield its right to “armed resistance” unless an “independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital” is established.
Israel considers the disarmament of Hamas a key condition for any deal to end the conflict, but Hamas has repeatedly said it is not willing to lay down its weaponry.
Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described any future independent Palestinian state as a platform to destroy Israel and said, for that reason, security control over Palestinian territories must remain with Israel.
He also criticized several countries, including the UK and Canada, for announcing plans to recognize a Palestinian state in response to devastation of Gaza from Israel’s offensive and blockade, calling the move a reward for Hamas’ conduct.
The war started when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza.
Israel and Hamas traded blame after the most recent round of talks ended in an impasse, with gaps lingering over issues including the extent of an Israeli military withdrawal.
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US Envoy Witkoff Visits the Gaza Aid Operation That the UN Calls Unsafe
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy visited a US-backed aid operation in Gaza on Friday, which the United Nations has partly blamed for deadly conditions in the enclave, saying he sought to get food and other aid to people there.
Steve Witkoff visited a site run by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Rafah in the war-shattered Palestinian territory, where Israel has been fighting the militant group Hamas.
Humanitarian organizations and many foreign governments have been strongly critical of the GHF, which began operations in late May. A global hunger monitor warned this week that famine is unfolding in Gaza.
The Israeli military said it was still looking into the incident in which soldiers fired warning shots at what it described as a “gathering of suspects” approaching its troops, hundreds of meters from the aid site.
The United Nations says more than 1,000 people have been killed trying to receive aid in Gaza since the GHF began operating, most of them shot by Israeli forces operating near GHF sites.
The Israeli military has acknowledged that its forces have killed some Palestinians seeking aid and says it has given its troops new orders to improve their response.
The UN has declined to work with the GHF, which it says distributes aid in ways that are inherently dangerous and violate humanitarian neutrality principles, contributing to the hunger crisis across the territory.
The GHF says nobody has been killed at its distribution points, and that it is doing a better job of protecting aid deliveries than the U.N.
Israel blames Hamas and the U.N. for the failure of food to get to desperate Palestinians in Gaza and introduced the GHF distribution system, saying it would prevent aid supplies being seized by Hamas. Hamas denies stealing aid.
Indirect negotiations between the sides aimed at securing a 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal ended last week in deadlock.
Hamas on Friday released a video of Israeli hostage Evyatar David in one of its tunnels appearing skeletally thin. Its allied Islamic Jihad militant group released a video on Thursday of hostage Rom Braslavski, crying and pleading for his release.
CRAFTING A PLAN
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who traveled with Witkoff to Gaza on Friday, posted on X a picture showing hungry Gazans behind razor wire with a GHF poster displaying a big American flag and the words “100,000,000 meals delivered.”
“President Trump understands the stakes in Gaza and that feeding civilians, not Hamas, must be the priority,” GHF spokesperson Chapin Fay said in a statement accompanied by images of Witkoff in a grey camouflage top, flak jacket and “Make America Great Again” baseball cap with Trump’s name stitched on the back.
Witkoff said on X that he had also met with other agencies.
“The purpose of the visit was to give @POTUS (Trump) a clear understanding of the humanitarian situation and help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza,” Witkoff said.
He visited Gaza a day after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel is under mounting international pressure over the devastation of Gaza since the start of the war and growing starvation among its 2.2 million inhabitants.
MALNUTRITION
Gaza medics say dozens have died of malnutrition in recent days after Israel cut off all supplies to the enclave for nearly three months from March-May.
Israel says it is taking steps to let in more aid, including pausing fighting for part of the day in some areas and announcing protected routes for aid convoys.
The worsening crisis has prompted France, Britain and Canada to announce plans to potentially recognize a Palestinian state, a move already taken by most countries but not by major Western powers.
On Friday, the Israeli military said that 200 trucks of aid were distributed by the U.N. and other organizations on Thursday, with hundreds more waiting to be picked up from the border crossings inside Gaza.
The United Nations says it has thousands of trucks still waiting, if Israel would let them in without the stringent security measures that aid groups say have prevented the entry of humanitarian assistance.
Israel began allowing food air drops this week, but U.N. agencies say these are a poor alternative to letting in more trucks. On Friday, the Israeli military said that 126 food packages were airdropped by six countries, including for the first time France, Spain, and Germany.