The new Labour government has said it will not pursue questions about the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.
The United Kingdom has said it will not pursue efforts to challenge the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
“Regarding the ICC submission… I can confirm that the government will not pursue [the proposal] “Consistent with our long-standing position that this is a matter for the court to decide,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesman told reporters on Friday.
The move puts a distance between Starmer’s new Labour government and the plans of former prime minister Rishi Sunak, who had planned to contest the mandate.
In May, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for alleged war crimes committed during Israel’s war on Gaza.
He also requested arrest warrants for three leaders of the Palestinian group Hamas for alleged war crimes committed during the October 7 attacks on southern Israel.
Court documents released in June showed that the United Kingdom, an ICC member state, had filed a request with the court to provide written submissions on whether “the Court can exercise jurisdiction over Israeli nationals, in circumstances where Palestine cannot exercise criminal jurisdiction over Israeli nationals.” [under] the Oslo Accords”.
The government of then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had managed to get court approval to submit its arguments before the July 4 general election, which the Conservatives lost.
The ICC had initially given the government until July 12 to file a legal opinion, a deadline that was extended to July 26.
Since their landslide victory three weeks ago, Labor and its new government have announced a series of changes from the policies of the previous administration.
Al Jazeera political analyst Marwan Bishara said the British government’s decision shows it “understands that supporting Israel is not the same as supporting this reckless war criminal called Netanyahu.”
He said it would make no sense for Starmer and his party to link their “political future, their credibility and their position in the Middle East and the rest of the world” by associating their “policies with those of a war criminal”.
Shortly after the government’s announcement, Labour MP Zarah Sultana wrote on X: “Supporting the ICC in its pursuit of arrest warrants is an important step in the fight against impunity for war crimes committed in Gaza.”
“Then the government must ban ALL arms sales to Israel, not just some.”
