There are “proper processes” to be followed if International Criminal Court (ICC) investigations ever become a matter for the UK, the Home Secretary has said.
Yvette Cooper declined to say whether Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be arrested if he came to the UK, after warrants were issued by the ICC for Mr Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Asked whether Mr Netanyahu would be arrested in the UK, Ms Cooper told on Sky News on Friday morning: “That’s not a matter for me as Home Secretary.
“The International Criminal Court is of course independent and we respect its independence and the role that it has to play.”
She said the “overwhelming majority” of ICC investigations “never” become a matter for the British legal system or government, and added: “In any case, where they ever do there are proper processes that need to be followed and therefore it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment on those.
“What I can say is that obviously the UK Government’s position remains that we believe the focus should be on getting a ceasefire in Gaza.”
Downing Street backed the ICC on Thursday after it issued the arrest warrants, saying the Government respected the independence of the court.
The ICC also issued a warrant for Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’s armed wing, over the October 7 2023 attacks that triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the ICC, based in The Hague, Netherlands, is “the primary international institution for investigating and prosecuting the most serious crimes of international concern”.
A domestic court process would be required before Mr Netanyahu faced arrest if he set foot in the UK.
The spokesman also declined to get into “hypotheticals” when asked on Thursday whether Mr Netanyahu would be arrested if he came to the UK.
Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel described the warrants as “concerning and provocative” and called on the Government to “condemn” them.
Dame Priti criticised the ICC for drawing a “moral equivalence” between Israel’s actions in Gaza and the Hamas terrorist atrocity on October 7 2023.
Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant (Abir Sultan/AP)
She said: “The Labour Government must condemn and challenge the ICC’s decision.”
Before the general election in July, Tory ministers had been considering a legal challenge to the issuing of arrest warrants, but the Labour administration dropped that idea, saying it was a matter for the court.
The ICC said there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant were responsible for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts”.
The court’s pre-trial chamber also found “reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant each bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population”.
The impact of the warrants is likely to be limited since Israel and its major ally, the US, are not members of the ICC.