Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned International Criminal Court's Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan for his announcement that he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in addition to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar for alleged war crimes.
"The announcement of the prosecutor at the ICC is beyond outrageous, and shows the extent to which the international judicial system is in danger of collapsing," the President stated.
According to Herzog, "Taken in bad faith, this one-sided move represents a unilateral political step that emboldens terrorists around the world, and violates all the basic rules of the court according to the principle of complementarity and other legal norms."
"Hamas’ leaders are oppressive dictators guilty of launching mass murder, mass rape, and mass kidnappings of men, women, children and babies," Herzog said.
He added, "Any attempt to draw parallels between these atrocious terrorists and a democratically elected government of Israel - working to fulfill its duty to defend and protect its citizens entirely in adherence to the principles of international law – is outrageous and cannot be accepted by anyone."
"We will not forget who started this war, and who raped, butchered, burned, brutalized, and kidnapped innocent citizens and families. We will not forget our hostages whose safe return should be the main concern of the international community. We expect all leaders in the free world to condemn outright this step and firmly reject it," Herzog SAID.