Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the Zionist entity’s attorney general to open a criminal probe into the premier and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant regarding the Gaza war in an effort to circumvent a pending request for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants against the pair, Israeli media reported.
Israeli Channel 12 said Justice Minister Yariv Levin, acting at the behest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, asked Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to open the probe.
Netanyahu wanted a probe into the ongoing war and how the war on Gaza has been handled to be opened and then closed, with an update filed to the ICC that the charges had been investigated by the Zionist entity and therefore do not require the court’s intervention, the report added.
According to the report, Baharav-Miara rejected the request on the grounds that it was a “blatant ploy” and would not satisfy the ICC. Baharav-Miara also reportedly noted she has already publicly declared that only a state commission of inquiry — Israeli occupation’s highest level probe — into the October 7 attack and the ensuing war in Gaza would be enough.
Netanyahu has so far refused to initiate a state commission of inquiry into the series of failures before and during October 7 — when thousands of Hamas-led fighters burst into occupied territories from the Gaza Strip.
While Netanyahu has said he prefers a government inquiry, Baharav-Miara has pushed for a state commission, arguing that it would have more independence and scope.
The request from Levin, a top Likud party ally of Netanyahu’s, came after ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan this week urged the court to issue the arrest warrants he requested in May against the prime minister, Gallant and several top Hamas figures “with utmost urgency.”
Khan requested the arrest warrants in charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes during the ongoing war on Gaza.
Source: Israeli media
