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22-05-2026
JERUSALEM: Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he was informed that the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague had requested a warrant for his arrest.
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Smotrich did not specify who had informed him about the warrant the previous evening. The process of seeking warrants is confidential.
Smotrich called the arrest warrants against Israeli officials “a declaration of war”, adding; “and in the face of a declaration of war, we will fight back with a vengeance.”
He also attacked “the terrorist organization mistakenly called the Palestinian Authority”, reflecting the Israeli government’s anger at what it sees as Palestinian backing for international legal action over Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
Announcing that he would go on the attack after the news of this arrest warrant, Smotrich said he “will sign an order to evacuate Khan al-Ahmar”, forcibly transferring the Palestinian community from this occupied West Bank village that has endured a years-long legal battle with Israeli authorities for its survival.
In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for “crimes against humanity and war crimes” committed during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Judges and prosecutors at the ICC have since been cut off by banks, credit card companies and tech giants like Amazon as a result of sanctions brought by the Trump administration.
The court also issued arrest warrants for several Hamas leaders who were subsequently killed in Israeli operations.
The ICC accusations reportedly centre on Smotrich’s forced displacement orders for Palestinians, his support for moving Israeli settlers into occupied territory, and his claim it may be “justified and moral” to starve Palestinians in Gaza. If approved, it would make Smotrich the third Israeli official targeted by the court, after Netanyahu and Gallant.
The United Kingdom and four other countries last year imposed sanctions on Smotrich and another far-right Israeli cabinet minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, accusing them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Smotrich has called for the permanent conquest of Gaza and the re-establishment of Jewish settlements there that Israel had abandoned in 2005, notions that Netanyahu has rejected.
In December, last year, the appeals chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has rejected one of Israel’s legal challenges seeking to block an investigation into its actions in the genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza, dealing a blow to Israel’s efforts to derail the case.
In their decision issued, judges refused to overturn a lower court decision allowing the ICC prosecutor to investigate alleged crimes in Israel’s war on Gaza following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
The decision clears the way for the continuation of the court’s Palestine investigation, which led to the issuance of arrest warrants in November last year for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israel does not recognize the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and has repeatedly denied committing war crimes in Gaza.
The ICC had also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Ibrahim al-Masri but later withdrew it after credible reports of his death. (Int’l News Desk)
