It is simply absurd: After the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his now dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last week, there was one question in political Berlin: Will the German government have Netanyahu arrested if he sets foot on German soil?

But the question was posed incorrectly. It should have been: Does the Criminal Court even have jurisdiction? Were the investigations by Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan lawful? And last but not least: Shouldn’t the German government have recognized the fact that the proceedings were politically motivated and not as objective and uninfluenced as possible?

The answers are obvious: First of all, the arrest warrants are highly dubious. The Criminal Court is not authorized to investigate Netanyahu and Gallant for several reasons. Besides, there is no state of Palestine, nor has Israel ever recognized the Rome Statute.

Israel has Independent Judiciary

Furthermore, the Jewish state, the only democracy in the Middle East, has a highly functional and independent judiciary, which is proven not least by the current investigations against Netanyahu for possible corruption (not to mention the prison sentences against former President Moshe Katzav and former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert).

These are the formal legal arguments. On top of those, there are the substantive arguments against the arrest warrants: The court accuses Netanyahu and Gallant of crimes against humanity and war crimes. As a reminder: Israel is waging a war against the terrorist organization Hamas. Not against the civilian population.

While the Israeli government and army are doing everything they can to protect the civilian population - for example by setting up escape routes, issuing warnings of imminent shelling, providing aid on a massive scale and vaccinating children against polio - Hamas is doing the exact opposite in order to win the war of images against Israel.

Empty Phrase

There is yet another revealing aspect: The court puts Hamas’ leader Mohamed Deif, a terrorist, and the prime minister of a democratic state on the same level.

In view of this, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s reaction is once again irritating. «The German government abides by the law, because nobody is above the law,” emphasized the Green politician, who has been distancing herself from Israel for months. Obviously, the slogan ‹Israel’s security is raison d’etat for Germany’ seems to be nothing more than an empty phrase from her perspective.

According to Baerbock, the independence of the judiciary applies. «It has come to the conclusion in this case that there is sufficient evidence for it to take this step now”, she stated. To her, even a politically motivated case like this one is sacrosanct.

Moral Compass

The US and French governments’ have harshly criticized the arrest warrants. Their input shows that there is another way. Parts of the German opposition are also showing impressively how the Berlin government could have reacted: with clarity, backbone and a moral compass.

«It is completely out of the question for me that a democratically elected prime minister of Israel should be arrested on German soil because he is defending his country against terrorists,” emphasized First Minister Boris Rhein (CDU) from the federal state of Hesse.

«We stand by Israel and the right to self-defense,” affirmed Rhein’s Bavarian colleague Marcus Söder (CSU) in Munich during his speech at an event organized by the Central Council of Jews in Munich on Sunday. «I find it disconcerting when the International Criminal Court equates Israel and Hamas. The Criminal Court has massively damaged itself.”

»Absolutely Unacceptable«

Alexander Dobrindt, the Chairman of the CSU parliamentary group in the Berlin Bundestag, emphasized last week during his visit to Jerusalem on the sidelines of a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu: «The court’s arrest warrants are a disgrace and absolutely unacceptable.”

Anyone who, like Foreign Minister Baerbock, does not recognize that the ICC’s first arrest warrants against democratically elected politicians are about politics and not law, perhaps does not want to see it. Or worse: He or she might be convinced of the necessity of such proceedings.

Let’s hope that after the new elections on February 23rd, 2025, the successors to the failed traffic light government will do better - in general, but especially when it comes to Israel and the Middle East.