When the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant, it did not go unnoticed.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) blasted the ICC, saying, “The ICC’s arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant is outrageous, unlawful, and dangerous,” and he promised to place sanctions against the ICC.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called the ICC “corrupt to its core” and released a bi-partisan statement along with Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) and incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) warning that “Acquiescing to the Court’s jurisdiction over Israel is to agree, in theory, they have jurisdiction over the United States.”

The US is not alone. A number of countries that are members of the ICC released statements confirming that they supported the warrants and intended to comply with them. Those countries include Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Lithuania, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Jordan, Norway, and Sweden. Hamas also applauded the warrants, calling them an “important step towards justice.”

However, other countries had the courage to voice their opposition to the warrants and speak out against them. Argentine President Javier Milei issued a scathing condemnation of the ICC arrest warrants, saying that “the decision disregards Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself from the constant attacks of terrorist organizations.” He went on to announce that Argentina was “advancing a historic memorandum with Israel, a bilateral alliance … against terrorism and dictatorship.”

In a posting on X, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called the arrest warrants “brazen, cynical, and completely unacceptable. ” During his weekly radio address, he added, “Later today, I will extend an invitation to Mr. Netanyahu to visit Hungary. I will guarantee him that if he comes, the warrant will [have] no effect in Hungary.”

In a powerful condemnation of the ICC warrants, Jan Bartosek, a member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, wrote: “Today, at a time when the world public is alarmed by the rise of anti-Semitism, when world politicians are condemning its violent manifestations, as in the recent attack on Jews in the streets of Amsterdam, we are witnessing an absolutely unprecedented decision that de facto legalizes anti-Semitism on a global level.

Moreover, the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Galant is an unprecedented legal act, as it concerns the democratically elected Prime Minister of a sovereign country. The ICC … equates terrorists with legally elected state leaders, which, in practical terms, can only embolden terrorist movements around the world. … I therefore call on the Government and the Foreign Office to consider temporarily suspending the Czech Republic’s participation in the Assembly of States Parties [and] that the financial contribution of the Czech Republic to the operation of the International Criminal Court be suspended.”

US President Joe Biden, whose support of Israel’s right to self-defense has traditionally been ambivalent, hammered the court for placing equal responsibility for the war on Israel and Iran-backed Hamas, which the United States and other countries have designated a terrorist organization and who initiated the war with its October 7 massacre in 2023. He issued an unusually strong statement that read, “The ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”

It is not unusual for the world to be divided when it comes to Israel. The Hamas massacre ignited the fever of anti-Semitism that has been raging around the globe ever since the October 7 massacre. That there are countries whose governments have been willing to show their indignation over the ICC warrants is a sign that goodness and fairness are not completely dead in the world and that hope for a better world is still possible.

Image: AP