ICC Seeking Israel and Hamas Arrest Warrants Sparks Debate in Australia

The seat of the International Criminal Court in Den Haag, Netherlands, on March 8, 2024. (Laure Boyer/Hans Lucas via AFP via Getty Images)

Australian politicians are at odds over an International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor seeking arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders.

Amid the ICC arrest bid, Liberal-National Coalition politicians including Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham, and former Prime Ministers Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison, say there can be no equivalence between Israel and Hamas.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese maintained that the government’s position on the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks was clear.

“There is no equivalence between a terrorist organisation like Hamas, that we support that ongoing classification of Hamas as a terrorist organisation, Mr. Albanese said during a doorstop interview. 

As one of 124 signatories to the Rome Statute that established the ICC, Australia has a general obligation to cooperate with the court’s investigations, according to the government. 

The ICC’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged “war crimes against humanity” in the Gaza strip.

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Mr. Khan has also filed arrest warrant applications against Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, and Ismail Haniyeh.

U.S. President Joe Biden has described this application as “outrageous,” a view that has been echoed by the Republican Party.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been invited to address a joint session of Congress amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Albanese Maintains Call For Two State Solution

Mr. Albanese pointed out the government carried a resolution in parliament with the support of the opposition that clearly opposed Oct. 7 and called unequivocally for the release of hostages and an end to the attacks on Israel that were taking place.

“We also called for, then, for international humanitarian law to be applied as is appropriate. And we also call for since then a humanitarian ceasefire. We call for humanitarian aid and we call for the political advance for a two state solution where both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security as we go forward.”

However, Shadow Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham called on the prime minister to make his position on the ICC clear.

In light of Mr. Albanese’s comments on the Howard government, Mr. Birmingham questioned whether Mr. Albanese believes it was a mistake for Australia to have joined the ICC.

“Is he suggesting that he and his government would withdraw? If that’s what he’s suggesting, then he should say so,” Mr. Birmingham said on Sky News Australia. 

“Equally, if he is defending the ICC action and suggesting that his government would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu or others were they had come to Australia, if it got to that stage in these proceedings, then he should say so,”

Mr. Birmingham reiterated that there is no moral equivalence between Hamas and the legitimate government of Israel.

“The fact that the ICC has created that impression has brought great shame upon that organisation,” he said.

Morrison Weighs In

Meanwhile, Mr. Morrison accused the ICC of having “jumped the shark” and placed nations like Australia in an impossible position.

“Any pretension that the ICC’s actions do not create moral equivelance between the actions of the sovereign nation of Israel in the current conflict and a recognised terrorist organisation in Hamas, is willful blindness at best and potentially far worse,” he said.

The ongoing discussion is taking place amid the war in the Middle East, which flared up when Hamas launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing 250 hostages. Since then, the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health says 35,000 people have died in Gaza.

What is the ICC Trying to Do?

The International Criminal Court is seeking to make a claim against both Israel and Hamas for alleged war crimes.

In a statement on May 20, ICC prosecutor Mr. Khan alleged that Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant have starved civilians as a method of warfare and willfully caused great suffering among other alleged crimes.

In relation to Hamas, Mr. Khan is alleging three Hamas leaders “bear criminal responsibility” for war crimes in Israel and the Gaza strip.

These include murder, taking hostages, rape, torture and other cruel acts.

Abbott Believes Labor Prioritising Western Sydney Seats

Mr. Abbott said he is concerned some politicians are more concerned about the sectarian politics which is becoming evident in their own electorates than Australia’s national interest.

“It is incredibly disappointing that our leaders, our current Labor leaders either don’t see or won’t say that there can be no moral equivalence whatsoever between Liberal democratic Israel and the apocalyptic death cult Hamas, no moral equivalence whatsoever,” the former prime minister said on Sky News.

In response to a question on whether Mr. Abbott believes the prime minister is prioritising Muslim votes in Western Sydney, Mr. Abbott said, “it’s hard to see any other explanation for it.”

“Certainly, there have been some senior cabinet ministers with heavily Islamic seats who have been particularly hesitant when it comes to calling out the rampant anti-Semitism which we’ve seen on our streets and in some of our mosques and Muslim prayer rooms,” Mr. Abbott said.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton called on the ICC to reverse it’s bid to seek arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, labelling it anti-Semitic.

However, Labor Minister Ed Husic, the first Muslim member elected to federal parliament, described this criticism as “staggering” and drew attention to all the loss of life in Gaza.

But certainly people have been concerned,“ he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s RN program, ”about the way in which 35,000 Palestinians have been killed and the way the campaign has been carried out by the Israeli government.”

The Rome Statute that established the ICC was adopted on July 17, 1998, and came into force on July 1, 2002. The Australian government signed the ICC statute on Dec. 9, 1998, two months after the federal election when Mr. Howard was re-elected.