British Starmer government lifts objection to ICC arrest warrants against Israeli officials

The withdrawal of opposition to the arrest warrants brings the new British government into conflict with the Biden administration, which opposes the arrest warrants against the Israeli leadership.

The move, first reported by the Guardian, does not make it any more likely that the arrest warrants requested by ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan will be granted. Other countries will also petition the court.

The Israeli online news portal Ynet quoted an unnamed senior Israeli official as saying: “Israel is deeply disappointed. This is a fundamentally wrong decision; it contradicts justice and truth and violates the right of all democracies to fight terrorism.”

Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, condemned Hamas and supported Israel’s right to self-defense, but also called for a ceasefire and more humanitarian aid for the besieged enclave.

In a further move, Britain announced last week that it would resume funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), despite reports from Israel that some of the agency’s staff were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack.

New British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said UNRWA had taken measures to ensure “the highest standards of neutrality” for its thousands of staff.

On Friday, Downing Street’s official spokeswoman, whose name traditionally remains anonymous, said the new government’s decision not to challenge the arrest warrants should not be interpreted as an endorsement or objection to proceedings before the ICC.

“As for the ICC submission, I can confirm that the government will not pursue (the proposal) any further. This is consistent with our long-standing position that this is a matter for the court to decide,” the spokesman told reporters.

Khan, who is British, announced in May that he had also requested arrest warrants for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Hamas in its October 7 attack and by Israel in the subsequent Gaza war.

The October attack killed around 1,200 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, women and children. Since the start of the Israeli war, more than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

In his request for arrest warrants, the ICC prosecutor named Yehiya Sinwar, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, Mohammed Deif, the commander of the movement’s military wing, and Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s political bureau based in Qatar. Both the United States and Britain had previously designated Hamas as a terrorist organization.

The prosecutor said the Hamas leaders were wanted for murder, hostage-taking, rape, sexual assault and torture.

The ICC prosecutor also asked the court to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, who are accused of starving civilians, causing great suffering and deliberately carrying out attacks against the civilian population.

Netanyahu said in May that the threat of arrest warrants “would not stop us from waging our just war against Hamas.” He called the action a “judicial farce.”

President Biden called the possible arrest warrants “outrageous” at the time, adding: “There is no equivalence – not one – between Israel and Hamas.”

The ICC prosecutor is requesting arrest warrants from a three-judge pretrial panel, which has not yet decided whether the case can proceed.

The three judges had previously given Britain until mid-July to lodge a formal objection to the arrest warrants.

Days after his election on July 4, Starmer addressed Netanyahu and called for a “further deepening of the close relations between the two countries,” according to a British press release. “He added that it was also important to ensure that the long-term conditions for a two-state solution were in place, including ensuring that the Palestinian Authority had the financial means to operate effectively.”