UK’s Labour expected to drop legal bid against Netanyahu arrest warrant

London (Quds News Network)- The UK’s Labour government would drop a legal bid that has been delaying a decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu over war crimes in Gaza, according to a report by The Guardian.

The UK had questioned whether the ICC could order the arrest of Israelis since the UK’s Foreign Office claimed that the Palestinian Authority had no jurisdiction over Israeli nationals under the Oslo accords, and as a result they could not transfer jurisdiction to the ICC. A claim that the ICC had already solved in 2021, when it ruled that it did have jurisdiction over any violations of the Rome statute, the ICC’s foundational charter, in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.

After he came to power, Keir Starmer, told the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, that he believed the Palestinian people had an undeniable right to a Palestinian state.

He also spoke to Netanyahu, setting out the “clear and urgent” need for a ceasefire in Gaza and stressing the importance of ensuring that the Palestinian Authority had “the financial means to operate effectively.”

According to the Guardian, Labour officials stated that he party continues to believe that the ICC had jurisdiction over Gaza although the previous British government had said that the court did not have jurisdiction over Israeli nationals.

It added that the ICC had given the UK until 12 July to submit its full claim, but it now appears highly unlikely that the new government will go ahead with it, lifting the potential delay on the ICC pre-trial chamber ruling on the request for arrest warrants against Israeli officials.