ICC arrest warrants have been issued for Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant and [Hamas terrorist] Ibrahim Al-Masri
Despite Netanyahu and Gallant now being wanted across 124 countries, experts say the move is still unlikely to lead to an arrest
Imogen Saunders, an associate professor at the Australian National University College of Law, says,
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"it's unlikely the ICC's arrest warrants will have anyone in handcuffs"
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"Netanyahu and Gallant will be safe from prosecution, as long as they don't travel to any of the 124 member countries of the ICC"
"So what that means for Benjamin Netanyahu is as long as he stays within Israel, Israel is the only country in the world that could actually arrest him and they're clearly not going to do that"
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"It does curtail travel" "It does essentially put a limitation on freedom of movement"
ICC non-members
One of Israel's biggest allies, the US, does not recognise the authority of the ICC and has refused to become a member China, India, Israel and Russia are also not ICC parties
As a result, they're under no duty to arrest Netanyahu, even if he did travel to their country
Saunders added,
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"In some ways, they're in an easier position than Australia would be as Australia is a member"
ignominy
Saunders also said,
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it's a "big milestone" in the history of the ICC as it's the first time an arrest warrant has been issued on a leader with such strong ties to the West
Only 2 previous sitting heads of government have had arrest warrants issued by the ICC — neither of which had strong ties to the West 1. Russian president Vladimir Putin 2. and former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir
