The Estonia–Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group of the Riigikogu condemns the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue a similar arrest warrant against Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defence of Israel Yoav Gallant, as against one of the leaders of the terrorist group Hamas and considers this to be fundamentally wrong.

“By issuing arrest warrants against Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defence of Israel Yoav Gallant and a warrant to arrest Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif at the same time, the ICC is equating members of the democratically elected Israeli government with the leaders of the Islamist terrorist organisation. Moreover, the ICC has essentially equated Russia, the aggressor state, with democratic Israel that has suffered in a terrorist attack,” the parliamentary friendship group said. In its opinion this is completely absurd and unacceptable.

According to the group, Israel is a state governed by the rule of law, where an independent judicial system is in place, where alleged war crimes, including those committed by the Israel Defence Forces, are investigated and the perpetrators are prosecuted. Hamas, however, is a terrorist organisation whose main aim is to destroy the democratic State of Israel.

The parliamentary friendship group pointed out that it agreed with what the President of the United States, Joe Biden, had said: “The ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. Whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.” In the opinion of the Members of the Riigikogu it is noteworthy that the US immediately rejected the arrest warrants issued by the ICC against Israeli leaders. “The arrest warrants call into question the impartiality of the International Criminal Court. They make it more complicated to resolve the conflict, to release Israeli hostages from Hamas and to achieve a lasting ceasefire,” they said.

The Estonia-Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group of the Riigikogu reaffirms its continued support for the State of Israel and its right to self-defence. “We continue to be seriously concerned about the situation in the Middle East and we hope that the armed conflict will be resolved as soon as possible and that the long-awaited peace will come to the region. We welcome the decisions of France, Greece and other European countries not to recognise the ICC arrest warrants against Israeli leaders and call on the Estonian Government to follow them,” the parliamentary friendship group said in the Statement.

Chairman of the parliamentary friendship group Eerik-Niiles Kross and members Vadim Belobrovtsev, Karmen Joller, Meelis Kiili, Lauri Laats, Riina Solman, Aivar Sõerd, Vilja Toomast and Kristo Enn Vaga signed the Statement of the group.

For more information, please contact:

Eerik-Niiles Kross
Chairman of Estonia-Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group
[email protected]