(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