Former ICC chief prosecutor: ‘Netanyahu is afraid’

As Israel’s war on Gaza keeps raging, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The prosecutor, Karim Khan, has taken the same actions against three Hamas leaders.

If the arrest warrants are granted, the five men won’t be able to step foot in any country that is a signatory to the ICC without risking arrest. Both Israel and Hamas have condemned the requests.

The court has long been criticised for going after leaders only from the Global South, so does this decision signal it is now willing to prosecute Western powers and their close allies?

This week on UpFront, Marc Lamont Hill speaks with the first chief prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno Ocampo, about the implications of arrest warrants for the Israeli and Hamas leaders.