Is Keir Starmer really going to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu?

Benjamin Netanyahu faces arrest if he enters Britain. That is the welcome the Israeli leader will receive should he fancy another trip to the UK any time soon. It comes after the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister, along with former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and Mohammed Deif of Hamas, who is thought to be already dead. Justifying the decision to issue warrants for the two Israeli politicians, the court said they shared criminal responsibility for ‘the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.’

In response, the Israeli government has – unsurprisingly – heavily criticised the judgment. The United States (which is not an ICC member) has also ‘fundamentally’ rejected the court’s decision – stating that the ICC has no ‘jurisdiction over this matter’. The incoming Trump administration has warned of a ‘strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC and UN come January’ when Trump takes office.

In contrast, Downing Street has confirmed that it will respect the ICC’s decision once the UK domestic process had taken place. This is thought to reference the ratification of the warrant by a UK court. Starmer’s spokesman said the UK government would comply with its legal obligations but added there was no ‘moral equivalence’ between Israel and Hamas. But Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, when asked this morning about the decision, was less forthcoming, saying it was ‘not a matter for me’. She added: ‘What I can say is obviously we have always respected the independence of the ICC but those issues that they investigate are matters for them rather than for the government.’

Now of course it is easier for the US to take a bold stance against the ICC ruling, given unlike the UK it is not a member of the court. But Starmer’s seeming compliance – with little criticism or scepticism to accompany it – is very different to what would have been expected if the Tories were still in power. Starmer’s hand-picked choice of Attorney General recently told the Financial Times that the government ‘is determined not to do anything that undermines the work of the ICC.’ Already, the shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel has criticised Starmer’s response – describing the warrant as concerning and urging the government to ‘condemn and challenge the ICC’s decision’. If Starmer continues to hold his position, he risks a diplomatic rift with both Israel and the incoming Trump administration.