ICC decision on Netanyahu arrest warrant may be delayed by UK

This is the best summary I could come up with:

An intervention by the UK government at the international criminal court is expected to delay a decision over whether an arrest warrant can be issued against the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

According to court papers, after the prosecutor made the requests the UK argued that the judges hearing the case must address “outstanding” questions about the ICC’s jurisdiction over Israeli citizens before deciding whether to issue the warrants.

The decision to allow the UK to submit arguments in the case has caused concern among some international law experts that Britain’s intervention is politically motivated and an attempt to reopen legal issues many argue have previously been settled.

However, last month the UK government told an ICC pre-trial chamber the 2021 ruling “did not determine” jurisdictional issues relating to the Oslo accords, the interim peace agreements signed between the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Israel in the 1990s.

She said the UK appeared to be “prioritising diplomatic relationships over accountability for international crimes” and that its attempt to challenge the ICC’s jurisdiction also failed “to address Israel’s noncompliance with the Oslo accords, particularly concerning settlement expansions in the West Bank”.

Responding to the decision, Clive Baldwin, a senior legal adviser at Human Rights Watch, said: “The UK should not be leading the charge for double standards in victims’ access to justice.

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4 comments

How can the Oslo accords be used as an argument against Israeli prosecution if Israel has done exactly nothing to uphold them? What in the dystopian fuck is this?
I suspect that this might be a tactic intended for the domestic audience. The current government is extremely unlikely to be in power a week from now, and might be doing this just to force the next government to either follow through or retract it
The ICC arrest warrants were never going to deter anyone from doing anything, so the UKs stalling tactic is therefore irrelevant to saving lives. In fact, it gives the court a chance to strengthen its jurisdiction. Not worried about this.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
An intervention by the UK government at the international criminal court is expected to delay a decision over whether an arrest warrant can be issued against the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
According to court papers, after the prosecutor made the requests the UK argued that the judges hearing the case must address “outstanding” questions about the ICC’s jurisdiction over Israeli citizens before deciding whether to issue the warrants.
The decision to allow the UK to submit arguments in the case has caused concern among some international law experts that Britain’s intervention is politically motivated and an attempt to reopen legal issues many argue have previously been settled.
However, last month the UK government told an ICC pre-trial chamber the 2021 ruling “did not determine” jurisdictional issues relating to the Oslo accords, the interim peace agreements signed between the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Israel in the 1990s.
She said the UK appeared to be “prioritising diplomatic relationships over accountability for international crimes” and that its attempt to challenge the ICC’s jurisdiction also failed “to address Israel’s noncompliance with the Oslo accords, particularly concerning settlement expansions in the West Bank”.
Responding to the decision, Clive Baldwin, a senior legal adviser at Human Rights Watch, said: “The UK should not be leading the charge for double standards in victims’ access to justice.
The original article contains 564 words, the summary contains 226 words. Saved 60%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!