Will Benjamin Netanyahu be arrested if he travels to Germany? – DW – 05/24/2024

These are exactly the headlines the German government wanted to avoid at all costs: “Scholz spokesman suggests Germany will arrest Netanyahu,” the paper headlined on Wednesday night. Buildingthe tabloid with the highest circulation in the country. For its part, The Welt He also wrote: “Germany will extradite Netanyahu, government spokesman indicates.”

Is this really conceivable? If the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would Germany arrest or even extradite the political leader of the Israeli state?

For CDU chairman Friedrich Merz, the leader of the strongest opposition party, the very idea is unacceptable: “The silence of the German government, even the suggestion by the government spokesman that Netanyahu could be arrested on German soil, is indeed a scandal,” Merz told the newspaper Construction.

Request for legal action against Netanyahu and Minister Galant

On Monday (20.5.2024), the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), British lawyer Karim Khan, requested arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, as well as the three leaders, for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes. The radical Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by several Western countries, including Germany.
Due to the enormous suffering of the Gaza Strip population since Israel responded militarily to a Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, Khan has specifically accused Netanyahu and his minister of using the starvation of the Gaza Strip population as a weapon of war.

Khan’s requests must now be examined by the court, which will decide on the matter. One of the criticisms Khan has received is that he has put the head of the Israeli government and the three Hamas leaders whose arrest he has requested on the same level.

It’s an issue that particularly worries the leader of the German CDU, Friedrich Merz: “Requesting arrest warrants against Prime Minister Netanyahu and Hamas leader Sinwar at the same time is an absurd reversal of the aggressor-victim relationship,” said the Christian Democrat leader.

A stressed government

The Wednesday press conference of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s spokesman Steffen Hebestreit made it clear how difficult it is for the German government to take a clear stance on the matter. Visibly stressed, Hebestreit initially had to deny rumors that Scholz had been “disappointed” by the chief prosecutor’s announcement.

Hebestreit said: “I can’t report any disappointment or anger. We have made it clear that we view the equation very seriously.”

Will the arrest warrant against Netanyahu be valid?

Should the Hague-based court’s allegations be evaluated differently because the rule of law is affected? Indeed, international judges are also skeptical about whether Khan can file a petition against Netanyahu.

According to international law expert Konstantin Gan in a Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel

One of the ICC’s fixed rules is that it can only take action if the state concerned is unwilling or unable to investigate itself. For example, in dictatorships. But hardly in democratic Israel.

The German government’s dilemma is that Germany is one of the main defenders of the International Criminal Court, which investigates crimes such as genocide or war crimes and has been sentencing since 2002. Against individuals, not states. In 2023 alone, the German government transferred $20 million to the ICC. 123 countries support this organization, which is not part of the United Nations. But major states such as the United States and Israel do not.

Germany and its special relationship with Israel

On the other hand, support for Israel is a cause of state for Germany, also as a result of Germany’s dark history with the murder of millions of Jews during the Nazi dictatorship. Does this also apply to Prime Minister Netanyahu personally? German government spokesman Hebestreit said: “In principle, we support the International Criminal Court, and that is the way it is. We respect law and order.”

However, he also criticised Khan’s actions: “The equation is that the chief prosecutor decided to give an interview to CNN, and there he mentioned the request for an arrest warrant against three Hamas leaders, as well as the Israeli prime minister and the minister of defence, at the same time”.

Israel’s ambassador to Berlin, Ron Prosor, strongly criticised both Khan and the German government. “The state’s cause is now under scrutiny, no ifs and buts.” Prosor described the government’s statements as “soft” and added: “The claim that Israel has a right to self-defence loses credibility if our hands are tied when it is used.”

Other reactions in other countries

In fact, other states are more explicit in their statements than Germany when asked if they would detain Netanyahu. Hungary, for example, says ‘no’. The country supports the International Criminal Court, said Gergely Gulyas, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff. But in the case of a visit to Hungary, the head of the Israeli government would not be detained.

And a few days ago, United States President Joe Biden called Hague’s request “outrageous.” However, the United States has never supported the ICC. In Germany, things are different and, therefore, much more complicated.

(GG/MS)