The British government has scrapped plans to challenge the International Criminal Court (ICC) that issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In May, the chief prosecutor of the ICC said there is sufficient grounds believe that Mr. Netanyahu is criminally responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Britain’s Conservative government had previously said it planned to take it to court, but did not do so before the election.
Now, a spokesman for the new Labor government says it will not be submitting a submission, saying it is a “matter for the courts”.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, said: “I think that the court has received so many submissions on either side that they can seize the arguments to make an independent determination.”
In addition to Benjamin Netanyahu, the ICC’s chief prosecutor also sought arrest warrants for Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, and Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
If the ICC proceeds with the arrest warrant, the possibility may arise that Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant will be asked not to set foot on British soil, to avoid being arrested by the British authorities.
The court has authorized 70 similar submissions from other countries on the matter and is currently underway.
Prof. Yuval Shany, an expert in international law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, predicted that it would take until the fall for the court to see all submissions and give prosecutors time to respond if necessary.
Asked whether the UK decision would make a difference, he said: “Of course, the fact that a major country such as the UK has decided not to submit is something that the judges will take into account.
“But the court still has to do a legal analysis of the question that the (UK) government wants to go before.”
He said the decision gave an indication of how Britain would react if the ICC issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and defense minister Yoav Gallant.
“It’s very difficult for the British government, after deferring to the courts … to just turn around and say I’m not going to enforce it.”
The main issue at stake is whether the ICC can exercise jurisdiction over Israeli citizens, in a situation where the Palestinian Authority cannot exercise criminal jurisdiction over Israeli citizens under the terms of the Oslo Accords – a peace agreement in 1993.
In 2021, one of the three judges of the ICC decided that the court could not exercise jurisdiction over the Israelis, while the other two decided that this could be decided at a later stage.
Ahead of the UK’s announcement, a media outlet in Israel quoted a senior official as saying that the UK’s decision not to submit the submission would be “fundamentally wrong”, adding that it “perverts justice and truth, and violates the right of all democracies to fight terrorism”.
Sacha Deshmukh, chief executive of Amnesty International UK, welcomed the UK’s decision, calling the previous government’s plan “completely wrong”.
“Instead of trying to obstruct the Palestinian investigation required by the ICC, the UK should support efforts to bring all perpetrators of war crimes and possible genocide to justice.”
The war in Gaza has proved politically difficult for Labour, with its stance upsetting many of its traditional supporters, particularly in the Muslim community.
In the recent general election, shadow minister Jonathan Ashworth lost the seat of Leicester South to a pro-Gaza candidate, while other senior party figures including Wes Streeting and Jess Phillips saw their majority slashed.
Last week the government announced that they will restore funds to UNRWAUN agency for Palestinian refugees.
The UK had previously suspended its donation after Israel said 12 UNRWA staff were involved in an October 2023 attack by Hamas.
An internal UN investigation into allegations related to the attack is ongoing.
But a separate UN review, published in April, found that Israel has not provided evidence for the claims of hundreds of Unrwa staff members of terror groups.