Germany would comply with an arrest warrant for Netanyahu

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government has said it will cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) if an arrest warrant is issued against the Israeli leader, a government spokesperson confirmed.

At a press conference on Wednesday, government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit was asked whether Berlin would execute the ICC arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes against the Palestinians. "Of course, yes, we respect the law," he replied, as quoted by Die Welt.

The statement came after Ron Prosser, Israel's ambassador to Berlin, called on Scholz's government to defy the ICC. The court's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, filed requests Monday for arrest warrants against Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict.

In response, the Israeli government called the proposed warrants anti-Semitic and called on "civilized countries" to boycott any orders to arrest their leaders. Prosor appealed directly to Berlin on Tuesday, saying Germany's "state policy" commitment to ensuring Israel's security as part of its national interests was being tested.

"Official statements that Israel has the right to defend itself lose credibility if our hands are tied the moment we defend ourselves," the envoy said. "Prosecutors assimilate the Democratic government to Hamas, demonstrate Israel and Jews, and thus delegates him. He completely lost moral compasses.

PROTH has added that Germany is the person in charge of "Adjustment of this compass". He told his delegation that they could be "nails in the west CO" as "nails in the west". Hebestright declined to comment directly on the Israeli government's request. Germany is a signatory to her ICC and has strongly supported these multilateral organizations. France, one of 124 countries that recognizes the ICC's authority, is in a similar situation. France's foreign ministry on Tuesday vowed support for the tribunal, saying it would be up to the tribunal's preliminary division to decide whether to order the arrests of Israeli and Hamas leaders based on the evidence presented by prosecutors. . Neither Israel nor the United States are parties to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC. US President Joe Biden called the proposed warrant "outrageous" and members of Congress threatened legal action.