Israeli support Netanyahu despite the international arrest warrant
Israeli support Netanyahu despite the international arrest warrant
cnn reported that a decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC), U against Israeli official, in Jerusalem on the busy Mahane Yehuda market was recorded with anger and annoyance. However, the strongest emotion was that of unity.
reactions to the arrest warrants
"I think it's terrible. What about Putin? What about the real villains?" Sarita Katzin Sarfati said to CNN. Her words referred to the decision of the court to issue arrest warrants against the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes that were committed in Gaza after the attack on October 7 of last year.
"Netanyahu thinks of his people ... I think the whole world should support us, and Bibi is our Prime Minister, you should also support Bibi," she added, using the Israeli nickname for Netanyahu.
unity in the population
While the buyers hurried through the narrow streets of the market, Netanel Yehuda also expressed his displeasure to CNN. "I am against it. We are a nation, we are independent and can make our own decisions here. Nobody can tell us that we are in prison or should do something," he said.
This thought is shared by many people in Israel, according to experts. Gil Siegal, a legal expert at Ono Academic College in Israel, said that the decision of the court based in the Hague has united the Israelis. "Israelis come together when they are under pressure," he said. "We can disagree because we think Netanyahu A should do instead of B, but if the outer world attacks us, so to speak ... this pressure is a united strength, not a separate," he added.
public opinion on the conflict
Most Israelis still support the war in Gaza, as they consider it a just fight and the only means to protect their country. Although many are against Netanyahu - weekly mass protests demand his resignation - most people feel unfairly attacked by the ICC. The limited opposition to the war is primarily motivated by the rising number of Israeli soldiers who have fallen in Gaza, as well as the hope of a ceasefire that would secure the release of the hostages that were still held there. However, the suffering of the Palestinians is hardly heard in anti-war rhetoric.
This is partly because the shock on the brutal terrorist attack on October 7, in which Hamas kept over 1,200 people in which the country is still fresh. Many Israelis know someone who was directly affected by the attack, and most of them have family members or friends who are currently fighting in Gaza or serve in a different form in the military
arrest warrants and the international community
portraits of the hostages can be seen everywhere in Israel, along the beach promenade in Tel Aviv and in the arrival hall of the state airport. Some Israelis are also outraged by the fact that the ICC arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant simultaneously with a against Mohammed al-Masri, better known as Mohammed Deif , the Hamas leader, who was one of the masterminds of the attack of October 7. Siegal said: "The ICC says that Gallant and Netanyahu are equivalent to Mohammed Deif ... this is something that Israelis really cannot understand, really, really cannot understand."
international judicial pressure and its effects
Yael Via's Gvirsman, who represented the families of hundreds of Israeli victims of the attacks on October 7 in front of the ICC, was in the Hague on Thursday when arrest warrants were issued. She said that the arrest warrant against Deif was an important recognition: "Hamas attacks consisted of extermination, torture, rape and other sexual crimes as well as inhuman treatment" and were good news for the families that represent them. "It is the first step towards recognition and the first step for her to rebuild your life," she added. However, she emphasized that the simultaneous arrest warrants against Netanyahu and gallant in Israel understandably were accepted with "great shock rigid", "because it is a nation in its most difficult hour."
allegations and political reactions
The court said that "reasonable reasons" had found to believe that Netanyahu was responsible for war crimes, including "hunger as a war guide" and "crime against humanity such as murder, persecution and other inhumane actions". According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, more than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7th.
Netanyahu condemned the step of the ICC on Thursday and called him an "anti-Semitic decision" and "a modern Dreyfus process", alluding to the illegal conviction of the Jewish-French soldier Alfred Dreyfus in 1894, which has since become the symbol of anti-Semitic persecution. The Prime Minister said that the judges at the ICC were "motivated by anti -Semitic feelings against one and the only Jewish state". Meanwhile, the opposition leader Yair Lapid called the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant a "reward for terrorism".
for the soldiers in the Gaza conflict
Although the arrest warrants of the ICC only affect Netanyahu and gallant, some are concerned about the effects on the Israeli forces and their soldiers. The compulsory military service is mandatory for most Jewish Israelis, and about 300,000 reservists were convened due to the war, in addition to the estimated 170,000 active soldiers.
The right -wing Israeli legal organization Shurat Hadin has warned of the arrest warrants who could "create a dangerous precedent for the ICC in order to target other democratic armies and leaders". The organization has long warned that the ICC may open a criminal proceedings against Israeli soldiers. According to the organization on its website, appeals to the ICC would have "devastating effects" on Israel and represent an immediate personal danger to individuals whose only guilt is to serve their country and fight against terror.
contradictions of potential recruits and reservists are rare in Israel, but there are signs that they increase in the face of global outrage over the consequences of the war in Gaza. In an unusually public stance, a group of over 130 Israeli reservists signed a open letter to Netanyahu and Gallant, in which they declared that they To serve unless an agreement is signed to end the war and bring the hostages back. Some of them said "the red line had already been exceeded". Soul Behahr Tsalik, an Israeli who intends to refuse to be moved into the IDF next week, said the ICC's arrest warrant confirmed his commitment to refuse. "The war machine of Israel not only destroys Gaza, but also harms the Israelis - physically and mentally," he told CNN. "I hope that the judgment of the ICC helps to cause changes that it shows my compatriots the truth and severity of the allegations against our leadership and urges Israel to leave Gaza, free the hostages and end the occupation as quickly as possible."
Breaking the Silence, an organization of Israeli veterans who reject the war in Gaza and the occupation of the West Bank, spoke out as a rare voice for the decision of the ICC. In a statement, the organization explained that the "flood of convictions, a variety of cotton boutisms and countless allegations of anti -Semitism" showed the persistence of Israeli society not to recognize what we do in Gaza.
cnns Michael Schwartz and Kareem Khadder contributed to reporting.
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