(May 23, 2024 / JNS) - Germany will detain Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if the International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant against him, a German government spokesman said Wednesday.

Asked by reporters in Berlin if Germany would execute an ICC warrant against Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Steffen Hebestreit, a spokesman for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said, “Of course. Yes, we abide by the law,” Politico reported.

  • nahuse@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    This is kinda huge. Germany is one of Israel’s most ardent supporters. It’s really great to see such a clear and concise answer that confirms a commitment to international rule of law over international politics.

    Edit: I hope I did not speak too soon, as this seems like relatively positive news. However I am having a hard time finding the original Politico source that this link refers to. I am also unaware of this source’s integrity. Does anybody else have another source; or the original Politico source that is referred to in this article?

    Second edit: apparently this is coming from the Twitter/xitter of politico. I don’t have one of those, so I can’t personally verify the veracity of this statement, but it does seem as if Politico (Peter Wilke (@peterjwilke)) reported this. [I put the name and handle in here for others who may be interested in digging a bit more than me before this is more widely reported]

    • kirkoman@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      I found this excerpt in an (automatically translated) article at Kronen Zeitung (Austrian):

      https://www.krone.at/3386668

      In response to a question from journalists at the Federal Press Conference on Wednesday, government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit explained that Germany is “fundamentally” a supporter of the International Criminal Court. “And that remains the case. We abide by the law,” said Hebestreit, indicating that the possibility of Netanyahu being arrested in the event of a case cannot be ruled out. However, the spokesperson spoke of a “hypothetical question”.

      • DaDragon@kbin.social
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        5 months ago

        So it’s more of a case of ‘we will follow orders’ then. Somehow not surprising…

        • umbrella@lemmy.ml
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          5 months ago

          you are being downvoted but that really was an ambiguous answer that avoids spelling it out loud and clear… it would be a complete 180 if true

    • Icalasari@fedia.io
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      5 months ago

      I’m pretty surprised too. Of all the countries, Germany is the only one that could get away with waffling on this due to the whole World War II thing. Like, it makes perfect sense that Germany wouldn’t want to be critical of Israel

      Man though, if even Germany is saying they’ll execute this warrant, then no country can even pretend to have an excuse because the only country with any excuse is making a statement now

  • Nobody@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Germany is turning itself into the reliable arsenal of democracy.

  • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Considering how many jews Germany has arrested for antisemitism (I.E. Protesting Israel’s Genocide), I’m honestly kinda shocked and surprised that they’d say this.

  • Riccosuave@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Good on them. Maybe the Krauts can rescue us from the neckbeard fascists in this country if Trump wins in November.