Israeli finance minister says ICC arrest warrant issued for him

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Tuesday that he had been informed of an international arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“Last night I was informed that a request for a secret international arrest warrant was filed against me by the prosecutor of the antisemitic court in The Hague,” Smotrich told a news conference, as cited by the daily Yedioth Ahronoth.

Smotrich described the move as an attempt “to impose a policy of security suicide on us through sanctions and arrest warrants.”

“We will not accept hypocritical dictates from biased bodies that repeatedly stand against the State of Israel,” he added, saying that “a large part of European countries have never excelled in love of Zion. Hypocrisy and double standards have become the hallmark of many countries.”

On Sunday, the daily Haaretz, citing an unnamed diplomatic source, said the ICC chief prosecutor requested sealed arrest warrants for “an unspecified number of Israeli officials.”

The warrants would be centered on three Israeli army officials and two politicians, the source said, adding that the timing of the request remains unknown.

Smotrich also said he would sign an eviction order for the Palestinian Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank after learning of the warrant request.

However, he noted that “signing an evacuation order is not within the authority of a finance minister.”

Around 200 Palestinians live in the Bedouin community in tin homes and tents and have for years faced displacement attempts linked to the illegal Israeli settlement project known as “E1.”

Khan al-Ahmar is surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements and lies in an area targeted by Israel for the implementation of the project.

The plan includes the construction of more than 3,500 illegal settlement units aimed at linking the settlement of Maale Adumim with East Jerusalem, isolating the city from its Palestinian surroundings and effectively dividing the occupied West Bank into two parts.

The project has faced broad international opposition because its implementation is seen as undermining the two-state solution and establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

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