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‘Modern Dreyfus Trial’: Netanyahu, Backed by Israeli Leaders, Denounces ‘Antisemitic’ ICC Arrest Warrant Ruling

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a memorial ceremony for those murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and those who fell in the “Iron Sword” war, at the Knesset, the Parliament, in Jerusalem, Oct. 28, 2024. Photo: DEBBIE HILL/Pool via REUTERS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday lambasted the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for him and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, calling the ruling “antisemitic” and the charges on which it was based false.

“Israel utterly rejects the false and absurd charges of the International Criminal Court [ICC], a biased and discriminatory political body,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “No war is more just than the war Israel has been waging in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, when the Hamas terrorist organization launched a murderous assault and perpetrated the largest massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”

The Hague-based ICC issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Netanyahu, Gallant, and a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict.

The war began last Oct. 7, when the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which rules Gaza, invaded neighboring southern Israel and perpetrated a bloody massacre that killed 1,200 people and wounded thousands more. During the onslaught, the terrorists perpetrated mass sexual violence and kidnapped over 250 hostages.

Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in Gaza.

However, the ICC said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for starvation in Gaza and the persecution of Palestinians — charges vehemently denied by Israel, which has provided significant humanitarian aid into the war-torn enclave throughout the war.

The statement from Netanyahu’s office noted that the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, initially made his surprise demand for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant on the same day in May that he suddenly canceled a long-planned visit to both Gaza and Israel to collect evidence of alleged war crimes. The last-second cancellation infuriated US and British leaders, according to Reuters, which reported that the trip would have offered Israeli leaders a first opportunity to present their position and outline any action they were taking to respond to the war crime allegations.

“The antisemitic decision of the International Criminal Court is a modern Dreyfus trial — and will end the same way,” the Israeli premier added.

Albert Dreyfus was a French army officer falsely convicted of espionage in a landmark case that sparked antisemitic violence across France.

Antisemitism has surged globally since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, amid the ensuing Gaza war, with countries around the world reporting record spikes in antisemitic attacks and other incidents targeting Jewish communities.

Netanyahu vowed that “no anti-Israel decision will prevent the State of Israel from defending its citizens.”

In a rare show of unity, bitter political foes of Netanyahu from across the Israeli political spectrum joined him in condemning the ICC decision.

“Israel defends its life against terrorist organizations that attacked, murdered, and raped our citizens. These arrest warrants are a reward for terrorism,” said Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid.

Benny Gantz, who joined Netanyahu’s war cabinet in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack but quit in June, lambasted what he called the ICC’s “moral blindness,” calling the ruling a “shameful stain of historic proportion that will never be forgotten.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog similarly said the ICC “chose the side of terrorism and evil over democracy and freedom and turned the international justice system itself into a human shield for Hamas’s crimes against humanity.”

The ICC has “lost all legitimacy” after issuing the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said.

“A dark moment for the International Criminal Court,” Saar posted on X, adding that it had issued “absurd orders without authority.”

Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the ICC showed “once again that it is antisemitic through and through.”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich urged Netanyahu to sever contact with the court and impose sanctions on the Palestinian Authority and its leaders.

“Israel will continue to defend its citizens and its security with determination,” he said.

There was no immediate comment from Gallant on the ICC decision.

“Israel is fighting … the most just of wars against pure evil. All Israelis, left and right, stand behind the war, whose goals are to release the kidnapped Israelis, demolish Hamas and restore security to Israel. Shame on ICC,” wrote former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a right-wing critic of Netanyahu.

Amir Ohana, speaker of Israel’s parliament, known as the Knesset, and a top member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, expressed similar sentiments: “Targeting the democratically elected leaders of Israel, the Middle East’s only democracy and the world’s only Jewish state, is nothing short of an assault on justice, truth, and the universal right of self-defense.”

The ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel as it is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which established the court. Other countries including the US have similarly not signed the ICC charter. However, the ICC has asserted jurisdiction by accepting “Palestine” as a signatory in 2015, despite no such state being recognized under international law.

Countries that are signatories, including several in Europe, are bound by the charter to enforce its rulings and arrest warrants.

The post ‘Modern Dreyfus Trial’: Netanyahu, Backed by Israeli Leaders, Denounces ‘Antisemitic’ ICC Arrest Warrant Ruling first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Germany’s Scholz Rebukes Vance, Defends Europe’s Stance on Hate Speech and Far Right

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks to the media after he met former prisoners following the largest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West in decades, at the military area of Cologne Bonn Airport in Cologne, Germany, August 1, 2024. Photo: Christoph Reichwein/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivered a strong rebuke on Saturday to US Vice President JD Vance’s attack on Europe’s stance toward hate speech and the far right, saying it was not right for others to tell Germany and Europe what to do.

Vance lambasted European leaders on Friday, the first day of the Munich Security Conference, accusing them of censoring free speech and criticizing German mainstream parties’ “firewall” against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

“That is not appropriate, especially not among friends and allies. We firmly reject that,” Scholz told the conference on Saturday, adding there were “good reasons” not to work with the AfD.

The anti-immigration party, currently polling at around 20% ahead of Germany’s February 23 national election, has pariah status among other major German parties in a country with a taboo about ultranationalist politics because of its Nazi past.

“Never again fascism, never again racism, never again aggressive war. That is why an overwhelming majority in our country opposes anyone who glorifies or justifies criminal National Socialism,” Scholz said, referring to the ideology of Adolf Hitler’s 1933-45 Nazi regime.

Vance met on Friday with the leader of AfD, after endorsing the party as a political partner — a stance Berlin dismissed as unwelcome election interference.

Referring more broadly to Vance’s criticism of Europe’s curtailing of hate speech, which he has likened to censorship, Scholz said: “Today’s democracies in Germany and Europe are founded on the historic awareness and realization that democracies can be destroyed by radical anti-democrats.

“And this is why we’ve created institutions that ensure that our democracies can defend themselves against their enemies, and rules that do not restrict or limit our freedom but protect it.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot added his voice to the defense of Europe’s stance on hate speech.

“No one is required to adopt our model but no one can impose theirs on us,” Barrot said on X from Munich. “Freedom of speech is guaranteed in Europe.”

UKRAINE

The prospect of talks to end the Ukraine-Russia war had been expected to dominate the annual Munich conference after a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week, but Vance barely mentioned Russia or Ukraine in his speech to the gathering on Friday.

Instead, he said the threat to Europe that worried him most was not Russia or China but what he called a retreat from fundamental values of protecting free speech – as well as immigration, which he said was “out of control” in Europe.

Many conference delegates watched Vance’s speech in stunned silence. There was little applause as he delivered his remarks.

Asked by the panel moderator if he thought there was anything in Vance’s speech worth reflecting on, Scholz drew laughter and applause in the crowd when he responded, in a deadpan manner: “You mean all these very relevant discussions about Ukraine and security in Europe?”

The post Germany’s Scholz Rebukes Vance, Defends Europe’s Stance on Hate Speech and Far Right first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Trump Team to Start Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks in Saudi Arabia in Coming Days, Politico Reports

US Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) speaks on Day 1 of the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, July 15, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar

Senior officials from US President Donald Trump’s administration will start peace talks with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Saudi Arabia in the coming days, Politico reported on Saturday, citing sources familiar with the plan.

US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Saudi Arabia, the report said. Special envoy for Ukraine-Russia talks, Keith Kellogg, will not be in attendance, according to the report.

The post Trump Team to Start Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks in Saudi Arabia in Coming Days, Politico Reports first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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UN Peacekeeping Mission Deputy Commander Injured After Convoy Attacked in Beirut

FILE PHOTO: A UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicle is seen next to piled up debris at Beirut’s port, Lebanon October 23, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

The outgoing deputy force commander of the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL) in Lebanon was injured on Friday after a convoy taking peacekeepers to Beirut airport was “violently attacked,” UNIFIL said.

The mission demanded a full and immediate investigation by Lebanese authorities and for all perpetrators to be brought to justice, it said in a statement.

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun condemned the attack on Saturday, saying that security forces would not tolerate anyone who tries to destabilize the country, according to a statement from his office.

The French government also condemned the attack.

“France calls on the Lebanese security forces to guarantee the security of blue-helmet peacekeeping forces, and calls on Lebanon’s judicial authorities to shed all light on this unacceptable attack and to go after those responsible,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Lebanon’s Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar called for an emergency meeting before noon on Saturday to discuss the security situation, Lebanese state news agency NNA reported.

“He affirmed the Lebanese government’s rejection of this assault that is considered a crime against UNIFIL forces,” NNA reported, citing the minister.

He also gave instructions to work on identifying the perpetrators and referring them to the relevant judicial authorities.

The minister told reporters on Saturday that more than 25 people had been detained for investigation over the attack.

The United States earlier condemned the attack. A State Department statement said the attack was carried out “reportedly by a group of Hezbollah supporters”, referring to the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon.

The post UN Peacekeeping Mission Deputy Commander Injured After Convoy Attacked in Beirut first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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