The withdrawal of its opposition to the arrest warrants puts the new British government at odds with the Biden administration, which opposes the arrest warrant against the Israeli leader.
The move, first reported by the Guardian, makes it more likely that the ICC will grant Khan’s request, in what would be a stunning international rebuke for Israel over the way it has conducted the war in Gaza and put Netanyahu at risk of arrest if he travels abroad.
Israeli online news outlet Ynet quoted an unnamed senior Israeli official as saying: “Israel is deeply disappointed. This is a fundamentally wrong decision, it is contrary to justice and truth and violates the right of all democracies to fight terrorism.”
Starmer, a former human rights attorney, has condemned Hamas and backed Israel’s right to defend itself, but has also called for a cease-fire and more humanitarian aid for the besieged enclave.
In another move, Britain last week announced that it was resuming funding to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, following reports by Israel that some of its staffers were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
Britain’s new foreign minister, David Lammy, said UNRWA had taken action to guarantee the “highest standards of neutrality” among its thousands of employees.
On Friday, the official Downing Street spokeswoman, who traditionally is not named, said the new government’s decision not to oppose the arrest warrants should not be considered an endorsement or objection to any ICC case.
“On the ICC submission, I can confirm the government will not be pursuing [the proposal] in line with our long-standing position that this is a matter for the court to decide on,” the spokesperson told reporters.
The ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan, who is British, announced in May that he was seeking arrest warrants for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Hamas on their Oct. 7 attacks and by Israel in the ensuing war in Gaza.
Some 1,200 Israelis, including soldiers, civilians, women and children, were killed in the October attack. Since Israel’s war began, about 39,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
In seeking arrest warrants, ICC prosecutor named Yehiya Sinwar, Hamas’s top leader in Gaza; Mohammed Deif, commander of the movement’s military wing; and Ismail Haniyeh, chief of the Hamas political bureau, based in Qatar. Both the United States and Britain have earlier branded Hamas a terrorist organization.
The prosecutor said the Hamas leaders were wanted for murder, hostage-taking, rape, sexual assault and torture.
Alongside Hamas, the ICC prosecutor also asked the court to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for starvation of civilians, causing great suffering, and intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population.
Netanyahu in May said the threat of arrest warrants “will not stop us from waging our just war against Hamas.” He called the action a “travesty of justice.”
President Biden at the time called the possible warrants “outrageous,” and added that “there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.”
The ICC prosecutor is requesting warrants before a pretrial panel of three judges, who have not yet determined if the proceedings can move forward.
The three judges had earlier given Britain until the middle of July to submit its formal opposition to the warrants.
Within days of his election on July 4, Starmer reached out to Netanyahu, calling for “further deepening the close relationship between the two countries,” according to a British readout. “He added that it was also important to ensure the long-term conditions for a two-state solution were in place, including ensuring the Palestinian Authority had the financial means to operate effectively.”
