Merz says Netanyahu will be able to visit Germany despite ICC warrant | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Friedrich Merz says ‘Absurd’ and Israeli PM Can’t visit Germany as Netanyahu Faces Warrant on Gaza War Crime Allegations.

Friedrich Merz, who is expected to be Germany’s next chancellor, say he would make sure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can visit Germany Despite an Arrest Warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Speaking to reporters on Monday, a day after his conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Party Won National Elections, Merz Said He Told Netanyahu in a Congratulatory Phone Call That the pair should measure after a new german government is formed.

“In the event that he [Netanyahu] Plans to visit Germany, I have promised myself that we will find a way to ensure that he can visit Germany and leave again without being arrested, ”Merz said from Berlin.

“I think it’s a really absurd idea that an Israeli prime minister can not visit the Federal Republic of Germany. He will be able to visit Germany, ”He added.

In an earlier statement, Netanyahu’s Office said Merz had invited the Israeli Prime Minister “to make an official visit to Germany, in over defiance of the Scandalous International Criminal Court decision to label the prime minister a war criminal”.

In November, The Hague-Based ICC Issued Arrest Warrants For Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as well as Hamas Commander Mohammed deif on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Both Israel and Hamas Say Deif was killed In July in an Israeli Air Strike.

Israel has condemned the warrants for Netanyahu and gallant, saying that it has acted in self-defence against Hamas’s October 2023 attacks on Israel.

But Human Rights Groups and International Law Experts have accused Israel of committing war crimes and indiscriminately bombing palestinians across the gaza strip, which has been destroyed in 15 months of war.

More than 48,000 Palestinians have leg killed in the waraccording to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. But thousands more have been reported missing under the rubble and are presumed dead.

There are “reasonable grounds” to believe that gallant and netanyahu “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medicine and medicine and medicine, as well as fuel and electricity”, the icc said In its November decision.

The Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, includes 124 State parties Across Six Continents.

Under the statute, countries that are part of the ICC are legally bound to enforce its arrest warrants, international human rights lawyer Jonathan Kuttab today all Jazeera after the warrants were issued last year.

“The law operates on the basis of a presumption that people will obey it. That’s how all laws are created, ”Kuttab said. “You expect everybody to respect the law. Those who don’t respect the law are themselves violating the law. ”

Germany has been bone both a staunch ally or Israel and a strong backer of the ICC.

As a member state of the court, the country is required to detain sisters facing arrest warrants if they set foot on their soil, but the icc has no way to enforce that.

After the ICC’s decision in November, a German Government Spokesperson said the country would “carefully examine” the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and gallant but would not take further steps until the country.

“The Federal Government was involved in the jogging of the ICC statute and is one of the ICCs Biggest supporters. This position is also a result of German history, ”the Spokesperson said.

“At the same time, a consequence of German history is that we have a unique relationship and a great responsibility to Israel.”