Quotes
Israel is deeply disappointed. This is a fundamentally wrong decision, it is contrary to justice and truth and violates the right of all democracies to fight terrorism.”
Israeli online news outlet Ynet quoted an unnamed senior Israeli official as saying We’ve been very clear about the importance of the rule of law and the independence of the courts both domestically and internationally,
a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said In the Labour party, we believe in the rules-based order. We believe in international law.”
In June, Lammy, who was then shadow foreign secretary, said This was a proposal by the previous government which was not submitted before the election, and which I can confirm the government will not be pursuing in line with our long-standing position that this is a matter for the court to decide on”.
Commenting on the decision, a No 10 spokeswoman said And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas”.
President Joe Biden called it outrageous, sadding I think you would note that the courts have already received a number of submissions on either side, so they are well seized of the arguments to make their independent determinations,
We cannot promote and be seen to be, or in fact be, promoting a rules-based order in international law if we’re not also replicating that domestically,
Will the UK government be principled and mature enough and adhere to its own statements of complying with and acting consistently with international law and supporting the rules-based order by withdrawing its application to intervene in the case of the ICC?”
It is an incredibly complex world that they are addressing. We’re seeing a number of crises on a level I don’t know we’ve seen in decades.”
Arrest warrants are not a conviction or a determination of guilt, but they do reflect the evidence and the judgement of the prosecutor about the grounds for individual criminal responsibility,
Lammy told the House of Commons during a session on Israel and Gaza