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Benjamin Netanyahu, facing ICC warrant, invited by Germany's Merz. Will Israel PM be arrested?
The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defence minister as well as Hamas officials for alleged war crimes committed in Gaza.
The likely next chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz said on Monday that he has extended an invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an arrest warrant of the International Criminal Court (ICC), to come on a state visit.
The CDU bloc leader also vowed to find a way for Netanyahu to visit Germany without being arrested under a warrant by the International Criminal Court.
"I think it is a completely absurd idea that an Israeli Prime Minister cannot visit the Federal Republic of Germany," Merz said at a press conference a day after his conservatives won the largest share of the vote in a national election.
He said he had told Netanyahu by phone "that we would find ways and means for him to visit Germany and leave again without being arrested".
The Hague-based ICC has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defence minister as well as Hamas officials for alleged war crimes committed in Gaza. Israel rejects the jurisdiction of the court and denies war crimes.
The ICC responded to Merz's statement, saying that enforcing the court's decisions is a legal obligation under the Rome statute.
Netanyahu's office said Netanyahu had congratulated Merz, and that Merz had told Netanyahu he would invite him to Germany "in defiance of the scandalous International Criminal Court decision to label the Prime Minister a war criminal".
Is Germany bound to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu?
All 27 EU countries, including Germany, are signatories of the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court, the only permanent international tribunal for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The treaty requires members to arrest its suspects on their territory.
Germans feel a special responsibility towards Israel due to the legacy of the Holocaust, and Merz has made clear he is a strong ally. But Germany also has a strong tradition of support for international justice for war crimes.
The Left party called Merz's invitation a "disaster" and accused him of "double standards".
Germany had always stressed that international arrest warrants would be executed, said co-leader Jan van Aken, referring to an ICC warrant for Russia's President. “If Vladimir Putin comes to Germany, then this arrest warrant must be implemented. The same applies to Netanyahu.”
The war in Gaza started when Hamas-led militants launched a cross-border attack on Israeli communities, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israel's tallies.
The Israeli retaliatory offensive has killed at least 48,000 people, Gaza health authorities say, and reduced much of the enclave to rubble, leaving hundreds of thousands of people in makeshift shelters and dependent on aid.
