RB News World Latest News
Related Articles
London: Britain will no longer challenge the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICJ) against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant. This intention has now been abandoned as soon as power changes in Britain. This move has been taken after Westminster restored funding to UNRWA. It can be announced by the end of the week. It is being said that the new Labor government of the United Kingdom will likely withdraw its objection to the International Criminal Court’s request for an arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant. The New York Times reported this on Thursday, citing two people familiar with Westminster’s deliberations.
Sources said that the UK government is expected to announce the move by the end of this week. It could potentially help British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s standing among pro-Palestinian activists who are angry at his support for Israel and his work to free his party from anti-Semitism. According to the New York Times, the announcement would be Britain’s latest break with the United States over its support for Israel amid the war with Hamas in Gaza.
What the British foreign minister said
British Foreign Minister David Lammy said Britain would restore funding for UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, which Israel has accused of aiding and abetting Hamas. Meanwhile, the Labour government’s new attorney general has expressed opposition to the previous government’s planned ban on local initiatives to boycott Israel.
The US House has passed a bill to sanction top ICC officials for requests to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant, but the legislation has not been approved by the Senate and is not expected to pass into law. Washington also continues to withhold funding from UNRWA and pass legislation banning boycotts of Israel.
Case filed in May
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan in May filed a petition for arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Galant, as well as three Hamas leaders – Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif – for crimes they committed during the terror group’s October 7 attack and Israeli offensive, in which thousands of Hamas-led militants stormed southern Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Britain’s Conservative Prime Minister at the time, Rishi Sunak, deemed Khan’s appeal for arrest warrants against Israeli officials “highly inappropriate”. In June, the court granted the Sunak government’s request to file an amicus brief on Israel’s behalf. But now, in contrast, Britain’s then opposition leader Starmer said that “the court should be able to reach its decision in a reasonable time. I support the court and I support international law.
