While the prosecutor’s statement did not mention Israel, it was issued after Israeli and US officials have warned of consequences against the ICC if it issues arrest warrants over Israel’s war on Gaza.
Not that new given that a law informally called the “The Hague Invasion Act” exists for more then 20 years and it’s only purpose is being a threat to the ICC .
Well the way it’s worked in the past if the country they live in won’t cooperate is, if they travel the destination country will arrest them. But that’s really just the cherry on top as far as international politics are concerned. Once a leader is officially labeled a War Criminal it’s shockingly easy to sanction them, their country, and their organizations. And basically turn their country into how Iran gets treated. So the consequences are farther reaching than just whether or not Netanyahu actually gets arrested.
Right now Israeli and American diplomats are probably planning -
A. How to prevent an adverse ruling
B. How to prevent Netanyahu from being held personally responsible so he can jettison some people and move on.
C. How to survive a worst case ruling.
In no world is Biden planning to cut Israel loose. But it could easily turn into a full blown campaign issue in 2028.
What happens if a country’s leader is labeled a war criminal, but the US and its allies refuse to sanction it?
There have been multiple instances where Israel’s allies have refused to vote against it at the UN, and if that doesn’t make a difference, the US has vetoed any vote.
As they said the UN but also member countries. An arrest warrant would mean Netanyahu wouldn't be able to go to most of the world without the risk of getting arrested and turned over to the ICC.
Unfortunately as you can see from a glance at the linked map, although much of the world is on board with it, the US and China refuse, and the rest of us are not militarily strong enough to stop them from carrying out or supporting war crimes. The usual story of this is why we can't have nice things.
Note that the ICC is a court of last resort, it was set up for cases where people lacked the power or the infrastructure to try cases of crimes against humanity etc in their local jurisdictions.
Okay a random complaint from your friendly neighbor colorblind guy:
Nothing about the content itself but why does everyone feel the need to use multiple shades of green-orange in the same map? Is it that different for color-seeing folks?
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