A leading Donald Trump ally has sent Sir Keir Starmer a major warning after the International Criminal Court issued a “bulls**t” arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Kevin Roberts, who leads the influential Heritage Foundation think tank, told GB News last night that any attempt to arrest Netanyahu would result in fury from the incoming Trump administration.
Starmer has so far tried to fudge the issue of whether or not the United Kingdom would abide by the arrest warrant, refusing to answer directly if police would arrest the Israeli leader were he to set foot on British soil.
However, Roberts made it clear that the Prime Minister may have to come down on one side sooner rather than later.
Keir Starmer with an inset of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu
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He said: “There will be hell to pay for any international leader buying into this bulls**t.”
However, Starmer will also face pressure from Labour MPs after ex-Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry claimed the UK is now “obligated” to arrested Netanyahu if he enters the UK.
Trump will officially return to the White House on January 20, becoming just the second Commander-in-Chief to serve two non-consecutive terms in the Oval Office.
He is expected to adopt a rather different position to many leading countries across the West, including Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Slovenia, and Austria.
Joe Biden is already showing the US holds a rather different view, with the 46th President labelling the ICC’s arrest warrant as “outrageous”.
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The Heritage Foundation president Dr. Kevin Roberts
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Trump’s senior allies are clear that they hold the ICC in very low esteem, with both the United States and Israel withdrawing from the ratification process in 2002.
The 78-year-old has signalled his intent to use trade sanctions and tariffs as a geopolitical tool to ensure countries bend to his will.
At the helm of the world’s richest and most powerful economy, President Trump will have significant levers to exert pain on countries that act in ways he does not like.
The 45th President, who will soon become the 47th President, could impose targeted tariffs or freeze out of wider cooperation.
Sir Keir StarmerPALeading Repubican Senator Lindsay Graham last week warned that the US would “sanction” any country which upholds the arrest warrant against Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
This could be particularly damaging for the United Kingdom which has hoped for a free trade agreement with the United States but also works incredibly closely on intelligence sharing through the Five Eyes network.
Following the ICC’s arrest warrant announcement, a Downing Street spokesman said the British Government respects the independence of the ICC and would comply with its legal obligations.
However, No10 has stressed there was “no moral equivalence” between Israel’s democratically elected leader and terrorist leaders from Hamas.
Trump has also suggested that he might not uphold Article V obligations to defend Nato countries were they attacked.
Article V of the treaty ensures an attack against one is an attack against all, meaning European countries have been able to rely on America’s powerful military to ensure their defence for seventy years.