Alan Dershowitz
Alan DershowitzReuters

Legal expert Professor Alan Dershowitz announced that he is putting together a "Legal Dream Team" to defend Israel at the International Court after the ICC announced the issuing of arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Dershowitz made the announcement in an Op Ed he published in the Wall Street Journal this week.

"This case will be tried in a courtroom in The Hague. It will also be tried in the court of public opinion, both in the U.S. and throughout the world. For that reason, I am assembling a team of world class lawyers from around the globe to help defend Israeli leaders against the false charges," he explained.

He revealed that former US attorneys general Michael Mukasey and William Barr, former Solicitor General Seth Waxman, former FBI Director Louis Freeh, former Canadian attorney general and minister of justice Irwin Cotler, and other prominent lawyers and legal figures have already agreed to join this "dream team." In addition, former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has agreed to join the team.

This legal team will argue that the ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel because Israel is not a signatory to the Rome Statute and because the case violates the principle of 'complementarity' by which the court is obliged to refrain from pursuing cases against countries with legal systems that can and do investigate accusations of war crimes.

In addition, the team will argue that Israel's actions in Gaza following the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023 do not constitute war crimes, because the civilian to combatant casualty ratio is among the lowest of all of modern wars, and because Israel has worked to ensure a constant and large supply of food and other humanitarian aid enters Gaza.

Dershowitz stated that the ICC has "lost credibility" by applying a double standard against Israel and by implying that Israel is morally equal to the genocidal Hamas terrorist organization.

"The validity, integrity, legitimacy and acceptability of international law and the laws of war depend on the application of a single standard. The double standard that has been applied by international tribunals against the nation state of the Jewish people is demonstrated by the issuance of these arrest warrants. In opposing them, our group of lawyers hopes to bring justice to Israel and its leaders, as well as the rule of international law, which is being disgraced and destroyed by the ICC. We welcome others to join in this endeavor," Dershowitz wrote.

The ICC announced the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant on Thursday. In its announcement, the court claimed that there is a reasonable belief that Netanyahu and Gallant committed war crimes.

The announcement stated that Netanyahu and Gallant "bear criminal responsibility for crimes, including shared participation in acts committed with others – war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and crimes against humanity, including murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts."

In addition, "Netanyahu and Gallant each bear individual criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentional attack against a civilian population," it was written.

Since Hamas did not formally confirm the death of Mohammed Deif, the ICC also issued an arrest warrant against him.