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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
/ | |
Netanyahu insists Israel will defend itself even if ‘forced to stand | |
alone’ | |
By Eugenia Yosef and Eyad Kourdi, CNN | |
Updated: | |
8:05 AM EDT, Mon May 6, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will defend | |
itself even if “forced to stand alone,” defying international | |
pressure for Israel’s military to limit its campaign in Gaza ahead of | |
its expected incursion into Rafah. | |
“Even if Israel is forced to stand alone, we will stand alone, and we | |
will continue to strike our enemies powerfully until victory. Even if | |
we have to stand alone, we will continue to fight human evil,” | |
Netanyahu said in a fiery speech Sunday at the opening ceremony of | |
Holocaust Remembrance Day. | |
Netanyahu’s comments came shortly before Israel on Monday ordered | |
Palestinians in parts of Rafah to , after the country’s defense | |
minister told troops in Gaza to expect “intense action” in the city | |
“in the near future.” More than 1 million Palestinians have been | |
displaced to Rafah, where Hamas is believed to have regrouped after | |
Israel’s destruction of most of the north of the strip. | |
While negotiators in Egypt struggle to strike a ceasefire-for-hostages | |
deal between Israel and Hamas – which could see as many as 33 Israeli | |
hostages released in exchange for a pause in the fighting that has | |
raged for nearly seven months – Netanyahu has come under increasing | |
pressure from the extreme wing of his coalition to prioritize entering | |
Rafah to attempt to destroy Hamas. | |
Netanyahu also warned the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The | |
Hague against issuing arrest warrants for Israeli leaders and | |
commanders after its investigation into the war in Gaza. Israeli media | |
has reported that several government officials, including Netanyahu, | |
are concerned that such arrest warrants are imminent. | |
Issuing arrest warrants for Israeli officials would leave an | |
“indelible stain” on the edifice of international law and justice, | |
Netanyahu said. He stressed that the ICC was “founded as a | |
consequence of the Holocaust” and should not attempt to | |
“undermine” Israel’s fundamental right to self-defense. | |
Netanyahu’s comments may represent Israel’s growing isolation, as | |
some of its closest allies have attempted to dissuade him from | |
launching an incursion into Rafah. | |
In a phone call late last month, United States President Joe Biden | |
reiterated to Netanyahu his “clear position” on a potential Israeli | |
invasion of Rafah, according to a White House readout. The Biden | |
administration has made clear to its Israeli counterparts that it wants | |
to see a clear and actionable plan on how they would protect civilians | |
in Rafah. | |
Asked by CNN for comment earlier this week on the possibility of arrest | |
warrants being issued, the ICC said it “does not give a running | |
commentary in relation to ongoing investigations, nor does (it) respond | |
to speculation in media reports. Accordingly, we have no further | |
comment to make at this stage.” | |
In a post on X in February, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said his office | |
has “an ongoing and active investigation into the situation in the | |
State of Palestine,” adding that his office was “actively | |
investigating any crimes allegedly committed. Those who are in breach | |
of the law will be held accountable.” | |
Israel is not a member of the ICC and rejects the court’s | |
jurisdiction. That has not previously stopped the court from its | |
actions in the occupied Palestinian territories. | |
Fatou Bensouda, a former ICC prosecutor, spent five years conducting a | |
“painstaking preliminary examination” in which she she was | |
“satisfied that war crimes have been or are being committed in the | |
West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.” But no | |
arrests were made, and Bensouda left office in 2021. | |
Since the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7 that left 1,200 | |
people dead and some 250 taken hostage, both Hamas and Israel have been | |
accused of war crimes. Since Israel launched its devastating military | |
response to that attack, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been | |
killed, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. | |
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