Israel isn’t a member of the ICC but there is still a warrant out for Bibi. Member countries have to abide by the rules of the court. So if Trump travels to France, he can be arrested, even though the US is not a member
I mention not being a party to the ICC to introduce the US law that makes supporting the ICC illegal. If Trump was arrested, he could expect military intervention.
If it was France who arrested him, they could expect that the US would revisit the exception to section 2007, which allows NATO to exist. Otherwise, military assistance to nations that are party to the ICC is prohibited (with a few other exceptions listed).
The Netanyahu arrest warrant is controversial because of the jurisdiction issue.
Here’s what Wikipedia says about the ICC’s jurisdiction:
The ICC can generally exercise jurisdiction in cases where the accused is a national of a state party, the alleged crime took place on the territory of a state party, or a situation is referred to the Court by the United Nations Security Council.
If Israel is not a state party to the ICC, there are two remaining possibilities that I can see:
the court is acting on referral from the UNSC (I haven’t heard of such a thing, and it seems like the US would veto).
the court is claiming that Palestine is a state party to the court. In order to make this claim, one must first also establish that Palestine is a state.
And in fact, France took the position that it would not enforce the warrant because the court lacks jurisdiction.
EDIT: I finally found a source on the ICC’s position on this jurisdiction question. The ICC ruling is that the state of Palestine signed onto the Rome Statute in 2015, and the ICC accepted Palestine’s membership in 2021. And that this gives ICC jurisdiction within the territory of the West Bank and Gaza going back to 2014.
The 2021 court ruling explicitly determined that Palestine is a state.
And in fact, France took the position that it would not enforce the warrant because the court lacks jurisdiction.
That same article says that they are required to enforce it
Is Netanyahu immune from the ICC arrest warrants as France claims?
No.
And says
The French argument appears to centre around Article 98 of the Rome Statute…Some 124 countries have ratified the Rome Statute, but Israel is not a signatory.
It’s funny that France says Israel hasn’t signed onto the ICC and is therefore immune based of the Rome Statute…but Israel hasn’t signed onto the Rome Statute either, so it doesn’t apply.
Regardless of France’s pussyfooting, the ICC says that members have an obligation to adhere to the warrants.
According to corroborating sources, this statement was meant to avoid severing ties with the Israeli prime minister, who contested the role of mediator claimed by Paris in the search for a hard-fought ceasefire in Lebanon, announced on Tuesday evening by Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron.
Israel isn’t a member of the ICC but there is still a warrant out for Bibi. Member countries have to abide by the rules of the court. So if Trump travels to France, he can be arrested, even though the US is not a member
I mention not being a party to the ICC to introduce the US law that makes supporting the ICC illegal. If Trump was arrested, he could expect military intervention.
If it was France who arrested him, they could expect that the US would revisit the exception to section 2007, which allows NATO to exist. Otherwise, military assistance to nations that are party to the ICC is prohibited (with a few other exceptions listed).
The Netanyahu arrest warrant is controversial because of the jurisdiction issue.
Here’s what Wikipedia says about the ICC’s jurisdiction:
If Israel is not a state party to the ICC, there are two remaining possibilities that I can see:
And in fact, France took the position that it would not enforce the warrant because the court lacks jurisdiction.
EDIT: I finally found a source on the ICC’s position on this jurisdiction question. The ICC ruling is that the state of Palestine signed onto the Rome Statute in 2015, and the ICC accepted Palestine’s membership in 2021. And that this gives ICC jurisdiction within the territory of the West Bank and Gaza going back to 2014.
The 2021 court ruling explicitly determined that Palestine is a state.
That same article says that they are required to enforce it
And says
It’s funny that France says Israel hasn’t signed onto the ICC and is therefore immune based of the Rome Statute…but Israel hasn’t signed onto the Rome Statute either, so it doesn’t apply.
Regardless of France’s pussyfooting, the ICC says that members have an obligation to adhere to the warrants.
The article says France says it’s about jurisdiction, but specifically about the idea that a head of state has diplomatic immunity.
If Israel was a signatory that argument couldn’t apply because they would have agreed to be subject to the ICC.
Eta more context: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/11/28/why-france-offered-netanyahu-concessions-over-icc-arrest-warrant_6734435_4.html