The Elysée was careful not to make the slightest official comment. The Quai d’Orsay has multiplied declarations, most of them complicated. The embarrassment of the French authorities over the arrest warrants issued on Thursday, November 21, by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, is over. questions.
The two men are being prosecuted by the Tribunal, in the context of the war in Gaza launched against Hamas after the massacre of October 7, 2023, as co-authors of “war crimes through the use of hunger as a method of combat, and co-authors of crimes against humanity through murder, persecution and other inhuman acts”. Both are now likely to be arrested if they set foot on the soil of one of the 124 countries, including France, signatories to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC in 1998.
However, no one is able, within the French executive, to officially guarantee that the ICC decision will be effectively applied, in the event of a visit to France by the Israeli leader and his former minister, initially dismissed from his duties. November. Since November 21 and the ICC announcement, Jean-Noël Barrot has made an effort to explain the French position, but not without taking infinite precautions.
“France is very attached to international justice and very attached to the ICC being able to work with total independence”stated the Minister of Foreign Affairs on France 3 on Sunday. “The ICC has issued an arrest warrant that is the formalization of an accusation against certain Israeli officials”he added. But when asked if Netanyahu would be arrested in the event of a visit to France, Barrot preferred to point out: “France will always apply international law”he responded, without specifying the background of his thoughts. On November 21, the spokesman for the Quai d’Orsay, Christophe Lemoine, in response to a question on the same subject, simply said that it was a “legally complex issue”.
Maintain contact with Netanyahu
This moderation contrasts with the position adopted by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell. As soon as the decision was known, the latter stated that the arrest warrants must be “respected and applied.” Among the signatory countries of the Rome Statute, some have welcomed the initiative of the Hague Court, such as Ireland, which, through its Prime Minister, Simon Harris, spoke of a “extremely significant measure.” Others, such as Belgium, Norway and the Netherlands, immediately announced that they would comply with the ICC’s decisions. None of that in Paris, where people say, at best, in private, that they will trust French justice should Netanyahu and Gallant enter national soil.
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