ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Israel’s foreign minister on Saturday slammed the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan for visiting Syria and meeting with de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa but refusing to visit Israel and issuing arrest warrants against its top officials.
“He [Khan] already ran to Damascus to meet with al-Julani, head of HTS (designated as a terrorist organization by the UN Security Council), and former al-Qaeda operative. So much for ‘international legal institutions’. Show me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are,” Gideon Saar said on X, referring to Sharaa by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani..
On Friday, Khan met with Sharaa to discuss accountability for crimes committed in Syria.
“Prosecutor Khan grateful to Syrian authorities for open & constructive discussions on building partnership towards accountability for crimes committed in Syria,” the ICC said on X.
“Karim Kahn didn't find the time to come to Israel, a democratic country governed by the rule of law and with an independent judiciary, before issuing arrest warrants against its democratically elected leaders,” Saar lamented.
In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for “crimes against humanity.”
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement at the time that “Israel utterly rejects the false and absurd charges of the International Criminal Court, a biased and discriminatory political body.”
Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire last week after nearly 470 days of war that saw 46,788 Palestinians killed and 110,453 others wounded, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
On Saturday, the Israeli government approved the ceasefire agreement following a six-hour meeting, according to a brief statement from Netanyahu's office.
Under the ceasefire, 33 hostages held in Gaza will be released over the next six weeks, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. The remaining hostages, including soldiers, are to be released in a second phase that is still to be negotiated.
Hamas has vowed not to release the remaining hostages unless a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal are agreed upon.
