Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong signals that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could face arrest if he travels to Australia, emphasizing that any decision would be based on international law, not politics. This stance contrasts with the explicit commitment of some other ICC member states to arrest Netanyahu.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has given her strongest indication that Israel i Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be arrested if he travelled to Australia , saying any decision “will be informed by international law, not by politics”.
Wong said she would not “speculate on hypotheticals” about Netanyahu’s arrest, striking a more cautious tone than senior politicians from other International Criminal Court member states who have explicitly said they would arrest Netanyahu if he entered their territory.Australia is one of the 124 member states of the ICC and is supposed to abide by the rulings of the court. However, it is up to sovereign states to enforce the law. “What I can say to the chamber is that Australia will act consistently with our obligations under international law and our approach will be informed by international law, not by politics,” Wong told the Senate on Monday. As well as Netanyahu, the court issued arrest warrants for former defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Ibrahim al-Masri for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict.The government’s refusal to denounce the arrest warrants has further strained relations with Israel, after it voted against the Jewish state in several high-profile United Nations votes and denied former Israeli government minister Ayelet Shaked a visa to travel to Australia. Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp has made clear Netanyahu would be arrested if he set foot in the Netherlands, saying: “When it comes to arrest warrants, it is clear: we execute an arrest warrant.” The European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell posted on X: “These decisions are binding on all states party to the Rome Statute, which includes all EU member states.”By contrast, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has invited Netanyahu to visit his nation, saying he would guarantee that an arrest warrant would “not be observed” even though Hungary is an ICC member
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