Britain’s New Left-Wing Government Withdraws Opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu ICC Arrest Warrant

The United Kingdom will no longer object to the International Criminal Court seeking an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a major foreign policy change for the country’s new left-globalist government.

The British government had submitted a brief to the International Criminal Court (ICC) questioning the body’s jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants for Israel back in June, throwing into question the move by the court’s move to seek the arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Now a spokesman for 10 Downing Street, the official office and residence of the British Prime Minister, has made implicit this will not be pursued any further and the new British government, which flipped from globalist centre-right to globalist social democrat left in this month’s national elections.

British broadcaster Sky News relates the spokesman said the new British government position is warrants are purely a decision for the ICC and the UK would no longer offer legal advice. The previous challenge will be withdrawn, Downing Street said.

As reported in June, UK-born human rights lawyer Karim Khan who now serves as the ICC’s chief prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants against Israeli government leaders. The British government had earlier publicly stated it was opposed to this “deeply unhelpful” move, and behind closed doors submitted an amicus brief on the court’s jurisdiction.

Under the British brief, which was revealed weeks later, the fact Israel is not a member of the ICC and consequently not subject to its rulings was raised, as well as the 1993 Oslo Accords which established with the agreement of Palestine Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat that Israel is legally responsible for itself. It was noted that while the ICC awarded itself the competence to investigate war crimes in Palestinian and Israeli territory in 2021, the British government challenged whether it was in its rights to do this.
These challenges have now been dropped, per the Downing Street statement.

The move to wash its hands of involvement in the ICC case against Israel comes just weeks after new British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hinted at recognising Palestine as a state, even if he also publicly recognised would have to wait given the damage it would do to the UK’s relationship with the United States.