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The International Criminal Court (ICC) has denied Israel’s bid to appeal the arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant related to the Gaza genocide.
In a decision that garnered global attention, the ICC found in November that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant held “criminal responsibility” for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The warrants issued against Netanyahu and Gallant provoked outrage in Israel and the United States, which subsequently imposed sanctions on senior officials of the ICC. Netanyahu condemned the decision as “anti-Semitic,” while then-President Joe Biden described it as “outrageous.”
In May, Israel requested the court to dismiss the warrants while challenging the ICC’s jurisdiction in the matter. The court turned down that request on July 16, stating there was “no legal basis” to vacate the warrants while the jurisdictional issue was still being addressed.
A week later, Israel sought permission to appeal the ruling from July; however, judges dismissed this request on Friday, indicating that “the issue, as framed by Israel, is not an appealable issue.”
“The Chamber therefore rejects the request,” the ICC said in its 13-page decision.
ICC judges are still deliberating on Israel’s broader challenge concerning the court’s jurisdiction. When the initial arrest warrants were issued in November, the court also dismissed an earlier Israeli challenge to its authority.
However, in April, the ICC’s Appeals Chamber determined that the Pre-Trial Chamber had erred in disregarding Israel’s challenge and instructed it to examine the arguments more thoroughly.
