UK: New Government’s decision to drop ICC challenge over Netanyahu arrest warrant ‘strongly welcome’

In response to the Government dropping the Tories’ plan to challenge the International Criminal Court over an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive, said:

“This was a totally misguided intervention by the last Government and we strongly welcome the decision to drop it.

 “Instead of trying to thwart the ICC’s much-needed Palestine investigation, the UK should be backing efforts to bring all perpetrators of international crimes, including genocide, to justice.

 “The UK’s standing as a genuine supporter of the rule of law requires consistency and even-handedness - if international crimes are wrong when carried out by Russian forces in unlawfully-occupied Ukraine, then they’re equally wrong when carried out by Israeli forces in unlawfully-occupied Palestinian territory.”