A decision by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for Israeli officials was met with anger and annoyance at Jerusalem\u2019s bustling Mahane Yehuda Market. But the most palpable sentiment was one of unity. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s terrible. What about Putin? What about the real evil people?\u201d Sarita Katzin Sarfati said about the court\u2019s decision to call for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes committed in Gaza after the October 7 attack on Israel last year. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m against it. We\u2019re a nation, we are independent, and we can take our own decision here. Nobody else can tell us to put someone in jail or anything else,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
That sentiment is shared by many in Israel, according to experts. <\/p>\n
Gil Siegal, a legal scholar at the Ono Academic College in Israel, said The Hague-based court\u2019s decision has united Israelis. <\/p>\n
Most Israelis still support the war in Gaza, he said, seeing it as a just fight and the only means to keep their country safe. And while many oppose Netanyahu \u2013 mass protests calling for his resignation are now happening weekly \u2013 most feel he has been targeted unfairly by the ICC. <\/p>\n
The limited opposition to the war is motivated by the rising death toll of Israeli soldiers in Gaza and the hope that a ceasefire would secure the release of the 101 hostages still held there, with the suffering of Palestinians largely absent from the anti-war discourse. <\/p>\n
This is partly because the shock of the brutal October 7 terror attack, during which Hamas-led militants killed more than 1,200 people, is still raw in the country. Many Israelis know someone who was directly impacted by the attack and most have family members or friends who are currently fighting in Gaza or are serving in the military in another capacity. <\/p>\n
Portraits of the hostages are on display across Israel, along the sea promenade in Tel Aviv and in the arrivals hall at the country\u2019s airport. <\/p>\n
Some Israelis are also outraged that the ICC issued warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant alongside one for Mohammed Al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, the Hamas leader who Israel claims was one of the masterminds of the October 7 attack. <\/p>\n
The ICC \u201cis saying that Gallant and Netanyahu are equal to Mohammed Deif\u2026 this is something that Israelis truly cannot comprehend, truly, truly cannot comprehend,\u201d Siegal said. <\/p>\n
Yael Vias Gvirsman represents the families of hundreds of Israeli victims of the October 7 attacks at the ICC and was in The Hague on Thursday when the warrants were issued. She said the warrant against Deif was an important recognition \u201cthat Hamas attacks consisted of extermination, torture, rape and other sexual crimes and inhumane treatment\u201d and that it was good news for families she represents. \u201cIt\u2019s the first step for recognition and the first step for them rebuilding their lives,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
But she added that the simultaneous warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant were understandably met with \u201cgreat shock\u201d in Israel, \u201cbecause it is a nation at its most difficult hour.\u201d <\/p>\n
The court said it found \u201creasonable grounds\u201d to believe that Netanyahu bears criminal responsibility for war crimes including \u201cstarvation as a method of warfare\u201d and \u201cthe crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.\u201d <\/p>\n
More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7 last year, according to the health ministry in Gaza. <\/p>\n
Netanyahu denounced the ICC move on Thursday, calling it an \u201cantisemitic decision\u201d and \u201ca modern Dreyfus trial,\u201d referring to the 1894 wrongful conviction of Jewish-French soldier Alfred Dreyfus, an affair that has since come to symbolize antisemitic persecution. <\/p>\n
The prime minister said the ICC judges were \u201cmotivated by antisemitic sentiments against the one and only Jewish state.\u201d <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, opposition leader Yair Lapid called the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant a \u201creward for terrorism.\u201d <\/p>\n
While the ICC arrest warrants target only Netanyahu and Gallant, some are worried about the implications for the Israel Defense Forces and its soldiers. <\/p>\n
Conscription is mandatory for most Jewish Israelis and some 300,000 reservists have been called up because of the war, on top of the estimated 170,000 active-duty soldiers. <\/p>\n
The right-wing Israeli legal organization Shurat HaDin has warned about the arrest warrants \u201ccreating a dangerous precedent for the ICC to target other democratic armies and leaders.\u201d The group has long warned about the ICC possibly opening a criminal investigation against Israeli soldiers. <\/p>\n
Legal action at the ICC against Israeli soldiers, it said on its website, would \u201ccarry devastating effects\u201d on Israel, and cause immediate personal risk to individuals \u201cwhose only blame is for serving their country and fighting terror.\u201d <\/p>\n
Refusals by potential recruits and reservists to serve are rare in Israel, but there are signs that they have been increasing amid the global outrage over the toll of the war in Gaza. Taking an unusually public stance, a group of more than 130 Israeli reservists signed an open letter to Netanyahu and Gallant last month, stating that they refuse to serve unless a deal is signed to end the war and bring back the hostages, saying that for some of them \u201cthe red line has already been crossed.\u201d <\/p>\n
Soul Behar Tsalik, an Israeli who intends to refuse his mandatory enlistment in the IDF next week, said the ICC warrant strengthens his commitment to refuse. <\/p>\n
Breaking the Silence, an organization of Israeli veterans who oppose the war in Gaza and the occupation of the West Bank, was a rare voice of support for the ICC\u2019s decision. <\/p>\n
It said in a statement that the \u201cflood of condemnations, an array of whataboutisms and countless allegations of antisemitism\u201d was indicative of the Israeli \u201csociety\u2019s insistence, even now, to not see what we are doing in Gaza.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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