Labour should stand up to the ICC over Netanyahu arrest warrant ...

24 November 2024, 17:22

By Emma Soteriou and Chay Quinn

Shadow Housing Secretary Kevin Hollinrake has called on Labour to stand up to the International Criminal Court after ti issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The senior Tory told LBC's Lewis Goodall on Sunday that he thinks the Government should not arrest the Israeli leader if he comes to Britain - despite the ICC ruling.

Mr Hollinrake said: "I think this government should stand up against the ICC ruling for various reasons.

Read more: Netanyahu faces arrest if he travels to Britain as Starmer vows to enforce International Criminal Court warrant

Read more: Arrest warrants issued for Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu, former defence minister and Hamas chief over 'war crimes'

"Most importantly, because it's the wrong thing to do.

"If you want to bring about a peaceful settlement of the, of the conflict in Israel and Gaza, it's because you want a diplomatic solution, and those hostages have to be released, and a ceasefire should take place when that has happened."

The senior Tory told LBC's Lewis Goodall on Sunday that he thinks the Government should not arrest the Israeli leader if he comes to Britain - despite the ICC ruling. Picture: Alamy

He added: "But to draw some moral equivalence, as the ICC has done, between Hamas and the State of Israel and its leaders is totally wrong.

"I think Israel needs to do more to prevent the loss of life. But this is a wrong thing for the ICC to put those, to draw that equivalence between those two different parties."

Mr Hollinrake's intervention comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed to back the International Criminal Court after it issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Israel's former defence minister and a Hamas leader.

A spokesperson for the Prime Minister said that the government respected the independence of the court.

In what marks a significant legal escalation, the warrants are “for crimes against humanity and war crimes” over Netanyahu’s assault on Gaza and the October 7 attacks on Israel, the court, based in The Hague, said.

The decision turns Mr Netanyahu and the others into internationally wanted suspects and is likely to further isolate them and complicate efforts to negotiate a ceasefire to end the 13-month Gaza conflict. Picture: Alamy

The decision turns Mr Netanyahu and the others into internationally wanted suspects and is likely to further isolate them and complicate efforts to negotiate a ceasefire to end the 13-month Gaza conflict.

But its practical implications could be limited because Israel and the United States, its major ally, are not members of the court and several of the Hamas officials have subsequently been killed in the conflict.