New UK govt may drop legal bid to delay ICC Netanyahu arrest

Following the recent landslide election of Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, reports indicate that the party may drop its legal bid to delay the International Criminal Court (ICC) from issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, The New Arab and agencies reported on July 8th.

This shift suggests a possible change in Labour’s policy toward Israel, which has been heavily criticised during the course of the country’s war on Gaza. 

In May, ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said he was seeking arrest warrants for top Israeli and Hamas figures. This requires him to make the request from a pre-trial panel consisting of three judges, who take an average of two months to consider the evidence and decide.

However, in June, the British government intervened to delay the decision, arguing that the ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel as it is not a member of the court. Court documents later revealed that the UK and an ICC member secretly filed a request to provide written evidence on the court’s ability to “exercise jurisdiction over Israeli nationals, in circumstances where Palestine cannot exercise criminal jurisdiction over Israeli nationals [under] the Oslo Accords.” 

READ: Saudi FM urges European countries to crack down on Israel

The ICC ruled in 2021 that — despite Palestine not being a sovereign state — it had jurisdiction over any violations in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. Alternatively, the UK argued that the Palestinian authorities cannot have jurisdiction over Israeli nationals under the Oslo Accords and, therefore, neither can the ICC.

The pre-trial chamber gave the UK until July 12th to submit its claim, but The Guardian claimed that it was now “highly unlikely” that the newly-elected Labour Party will proceed, lifting the delay in the pre-chamber ruling on the request.

In May, Starmer had said he sought to recognise a Palestinian state should he win the election. This declaration represents a change of stance compared to his statements from January that iterate the opposite. 

The New Arab and agencies