France’s foreign ministry strongly suggested on Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel would not immediately be arrested if he came to French territory, despite an International Criminal Court arrest warrant targeting him.
France has been cautious so far in its reaction to the arrest warrants the I.C.C. issued last week for Mr. Netanyahu and his former defense minister, and it did not say outright that Mr. Netanyahu would be free to travel to France. But it argued that I.C.C. rules on immunity applied to Mr. Netanyahu and would have to be considered by French authorities.
“France will comply with its international obligations,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. But it added that while the Rome Statute — the 1998 treaty that established the I.C.C. — demands “full cooperation” with the court, it also says that a state “cannot be required to act inconsistently with its obligations under international law with respect to the immunities of States not party to the I.C.C.”
The foreign ministry said: “Such immunities apply to Prime Minister Netanyahu and the other ministers concerned and will have to be taken into account should the I.C.C. request of us their arrest and surrender.”
The court’s warrant accuses Mr. Netanyahu of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Some countries, like Ireland, have taken a firm line on the arrest warrants, saying Mr. Netanyahu would be arrested on their soil. But others, like Italy, have also raised questions about the feasibility and legality of an arrest.
President Emmanuel Macron and Mr. Netanyahu have a strained relationship, but France has played a key role in trying to keep the conflicts in the Middle East from spiraling out of control, especially in Lebanon. The French foreign ministry’s statement came a day after France and the United States helped broker a cease-fire to stop the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
France and Israel are “two democracies committed to the rule of law” that have a “longstanding friendship,” the French foreign ministry said, adding that France would continue to work “in close cooperation” with Mr. Netanyahu and other Israeli authorities.
Some of Mr. Macron’s opponents criticized the foreign ministry’s position and suggested it was politically motivated, with the aim of securing the cease-fire in Lebanon.
“France has once again bowed to Benjamin Netanyahu’s demands, choosing him over international justice,” Marine Tondelier, the head of France’s Green party, said on X.
Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s foreign minister, said on Franceinfo radio on Wednesday that “France is very attached to international justice” and that “France, as always, will apply international law.”
But Mr. Barrot did not directly answer when asked if Mr. Netanyahu would be arrested on French soil, and he also said that the Rome Statute provided “immunity for certain leaders.”
“The final decision rests with the judicial authorities,” he added — suggesting that Mr. Macron’s government would let French courts rule on the validity of the arrest warrant before potentially enforcing it.
French officials have not publicly laid out which parts of the I.C.C.’s founding treaty were applicable to Mr. Netanyahu’s situation. The foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.
Article 27 of the Rome Statute says that it applies to all officials, including heads of state or government, and that “immunities or special procedural rules which may attach to the official capacity of a person, whether under national or international law, shall not bar the Court from exercising its jurisdiction over such a person.”
But Article 98 of the statute says that the I.C.C. “may not proceed with a request for surrender or assistance” that would require a state to “act inconsistently with its obligations under international law” relative to the diplomatic immunity of a person.
It was not immediately clear whether France believed that the same legal reasoning would apply to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Mr. Putin is the target of an I.C.C. arrest warrant tied to the war in Ukraine, and Russia, like Israel, is not a member of the I.C.C.
But French authorities voiced full-throated support for the arrest warrant against Mr. Putin when it was issued last year, calling it a “landmark” decision and adding that “no one responsible for crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine, whatever their status, should escape justice.”
Philippe Dam, the E.U. director for Human Rights Watch, said on X that the ministry’s statement about Mr. Netanyahu was “absurdly insane.”
“Does this also apply to Russia’s Putin??” he asked, adding that French officials were “weakening France’s commitments to justice and its credibility on the world stage.”
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