Gaza Herald- Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has strongly criticized the countries for being overly friendly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, allowing him to flay over their airspace on his way to the United States, despite the crimes he commits against Palestinians. She explained that they are not taking their obligations the international law seriously.
On Wednesday, Albanese stated that the governments of Italy, France, Greece should provide a full explanation for granting Netanyahu safe passage instead of arresting him. Although he is a fugitive sought globally, he flew freely over their territories en route to the United States, where he expected to meet the US president Doland Trump on Sunday, hoping to reach to a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
All three countries have signed the Rome Statute, which established The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2002. The ICC issued arrest warrants in the last year for Netanyahu and former Israeli defence ministerial Gallant for alleged war crimes committed against civilians in Gaza during Israel’s military campaign, which has been widely described as genocidal.
“Italian, French and Greek citizens deserve to know that every political action violating the int’l legal order, weakens and endangers all of them. And all of us,” Albanese wrote on X.
In a response by Albanese to the post by human rights lawyer Craig Mokhiber, who had cleared a day earlier that The countries had “breached their legal obligations under the treaty [Rome Statute], have declared their disdain for the victims of genocide, and have demonstrated their contempt for the rule of law”.
Amid ongoing negotiations over a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, Netanyahu, during a visit, discussed a plan with Trump involving the forced displacement of Palestinians. Since the ICC issued the warrant for his arrest, he has visited the US multiple times, flying over the airspace of countries that have signed the Rome Statute.
Netanyahu visited the White House in February to meet with Trump. He was the first foreign leader to meet with trump after his January inauguration, aiming to reach a ceasefire and secure the release Israeli hostages.
The flight took a longer route, passing over US military bases to avoid countries that could potentially arrest the Israeli leader, according to Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli Ambassador to the US, as reported by the Times of Israel in an article released the following month.
In April, Netanyahu travelled to Budapest to meet with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who had extended an invitation just one day after the ICC issued the arrest warrant, and had withdrawn Hungary’s ICC membership prior to Netanyahu’s arrival.
Following his visit to Hungary, Netanyahu flew to the US for a meeting with Trump, taking a route that was approximately 400 kilometres (248 miles) longer than usual to bypass the airspace of Ireland, Iceland, and the Netherlands, due to concerns these countries might act on the arrest warrant, according to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.
ICC member states are obliged to detain individuals subject to arrest warrants if they are found within their borders.
However, this obligation is not always enforced. For example, in 2017, South Africa, despite being an ICC member, did not arrest Sudan’s then-president Omar al-Bashir during his visit, even though an ICC warrant was issued against him.
European Union countries remain divided regarding the ICC’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu.
While some nations declared last year that they would honor their ICC obligations, Italy expressed significant doubts about the warrant’s legality, and France stated its belief that Netanyahu enjoys immunity from ICC prosecution.
