It’s an “absurd thought” that the Israeli prime minister can’t go to the nation, Friedrich Merz has stated
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is free to go to Germany with out concern of being detained below an Worldwide Legal Courtroom (ICC) arrest warrant, Friedrich Merz, chief of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the nation’s presumed subsequent chancellor, has stated.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Protection Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024, alleging that they dedicated struggle crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity associated to the Gaza battle. Israel has rejected the accusations, dismissing them as anti-Semitic.
Talking at a press convention on Monday, Merz, whose get together not too long ago received the German parliamentary election, revealed that he had invited Netanyahu for a go to, regardless of Berlin being a signatory to the Rome Statute, the treaty governing the ICC.
“I believe it’s a fully absurd concept that an Israeli prime minister can’t go to the Federal Republic of Germany,” he stated. “We’d discover methods and means for him to go to Germany and depart once more with out being arrested.”
Netanyahu’s workplace later confirmed the dialog and the invitation, stating that the Israeli prime minister famous Merz’s “overt defiance of the scandalous Worldwide Legal Courtroom resolution to label the Prime Minister a struggle felony.”
The ICC fired again at Merz’s remarks, saying “it isn’t for states to unilaterally decide the soundness of the court docket’s authorized choices.” The CDU chief additionally confronted criticism from Germany’s Left Celebration, which described the invitation to Netanyahu as a “catastrophe” and accused Merz of “double requirements.”
“If [Russian President] Vladimir Putin involves Germany, then this arrest warrant have to be applied. The identical applies to Netanyahu,” the get together’s co-leader, Jan van Aken, stated, referring to accusations that the Russian chief is liable for the pressured deportation of youngsters from Ukraine. Moscow has denied the allegations.
Israel, just like the US, Russia, and China, doesn’t acknowledge the ICC’s jurisdiction. Nonetheless, whereas all EU members are signatories to the Rome Statute, a lot of them, together with France, the Czech Republic, and Austria, have expressed skepticism about Netanyahu’s arrest warrant, whereas Hungary has explicitly refused to conform.
Germany has additionally beforehand expressed doubts concerning the doc, insisting that it has a “historic accountability” to Israel, referring to the Nazi Holocaust coverage in opposition to the Jewish inhabitants.
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