'Absurd And False Order': Israeli PM Netanyahu Denounces Bid To Arrest Him For 'War Crimes' In Gaza Conflict

In a public statement, the Israeli PM asked 'with what audacity' the ICC would 'dare to compare' Hamas and Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Source : PTI

Israel-Gaza War: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the International Criminal Court's (ICC) prosecutor for seeking arrest warrants for him over alleged war crimes in the Israel-Gaza war. The chief ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, also sought the arrest of top Hamas leaders, including the Palestinian operative group's leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, and political chief Ismail Haniyeh, for the alleged war crimes. 

​The ICC investigates and, where warranted, tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.

The Israeli PM said that he rejected with disgust that "democratic Israel" had been compared with what he called "mass murderers," as reported by the BBC.

Netanyahu's comments were backed by US President Joe Biden, who also slammed the ICC's prosecutor for an arrest warrant for the Israeli PM. Biden stated that there was no equivalence between Israel and Hamas. 

According to the BBC, Khan said there were reasonable grounds to believe that the Israeli PM and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Netanyahu condemned the application to seek his arrest as "an absurd and false order," as reported by the BBC. In a public statement in Hebrew, he asked "with what audacity" the ICC would "dare to compare" Hamas and Israel.

The Israeli PM dubbed the comparison a "distortion of reality." He accused the prosecutor of "callously pouring gasoline on the fires of antisemitism that are raging across the world," as per the BBC report.

The accusations against the Israeli and Hamas leaders stem from the events of October 7, when Hamas gunmen attacked Israel, claiming the lives of around 1,200 people and taking 252 others back to Gaza as hostages, triggering the current war. On Monday, the US President said that there was "no equivalence—none—between Israel and Hamas," as reported by the BBC.

"Whatever these warrants may imply, there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas," Biden told the audience in the Rose Garden of the White House, as quoted by news agency AFP.

The US President pledged "ironclad" support for Israel. He further stated that "we stand with Israel to take out Sinwar and the rest of the butchers of Hamas." Earlier, he had issued a written statement saying that the ICC warrants were "outrageous," AFP reported.