UK Greenlights Netanyahu Arrest

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uk will arrest natanyahu UK will arrest Natanyahu - UK Greenlights Netanyahu Arrest; Starmer Drops Legal Challenge To ICC Warrant Against Israel PM UK dropping its objection to ICC arrest warrant for Israel's Netanyahu

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00:00There is a piece out in the Times today, and it has also been covered by other outlets

00:06as well, entitled, Israel Condemns Stahmer for Dropping Challenge to Netanyahu Arrest

00:14Warrant.

00:15Now, what is this about?

00:18Zakir Stahmer has opened up a diplomatic row with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime

00:23Minister, after Britain abandoned its challenge at the International Criminal Court in The

00:28Hague to the arrest warrant proceedings against the Israeli Prime Minister.

00:33Now, a senior Israeli official denounced the fundamentally wrong decision after No. 10

00:39confirmed on Friday morning that the UK would not pursue its case against The Hague.

00:45This was the case that the previous government, the Conservative government, was challenging

00:50the prosecutor at The Hague who wanted to issue an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu

00:56on grounds of war crimes, and also Yair Sinwar, the head of Hamas as well, not just Netanyahu

01:02but both of them, on grounds of committing war crimes, which is going through a process

01:06before it can be formally issued by the International Court of Justice.

01:10The previous Tory government was bringing up objections against it to try and to try

01:16and scupper this actually happening.

01:18Labour is now not going to stand in the way of that process.

01:23That is what this is about.

01:25Now, it came off to Kareem Khan, the ICC's chief prosecutor, applied for arrest warrants

01:30targeting Netanyahu, Yoav Galant, the Israeli defence minister, and senior Hamas leaders

01:35Yair Sinwar, Mohamed Daif and Ismail Haniyeh.

01:39The deadline, as the deadline passed, No. 10 spokesman confirmed that the government

01:43will, I quote this, the government will not be pursuing this in line with our longstanding

01:48position that it's a matter for and it's that it's a matter rather for the courts to decide.

01:55So Labour wants to let, the Labour government wants to let the ICJ, the International Court

02:00of Justice, make its own decisions in relation to this matter.

02:05Now, it's interesting because it comes at a time when Bini Menet and Netanyahu is at

02:09a lot of pressure, under a lot of pressure at home at the moment in relation to his prosecution

02:16of the war in Gaza.

02:18The fact that you still have over 100 hostages that are languishing somewhere in Gaza.

02:23We don't know if they're all safe and sound or not.

02:26We hope they are.

02:27And they're not been returned yet.

02:28So the families of a lot of these people are getting increasingly agitated and have been

02:32for some time.

02:33And also his support is waning, including him having lost some members of his government

02:38in recent months as well.

02:40But he was in Washington on Wednesday and he appealed to America in Congress for more

02:47arms to Israel in his speech.

02:50But this is an exceptional moment.

02:52Fast-tracking U.S. military aid can dramatically expedite an end to the war in Gaza and help

02:59prevent a broader war in the Middle East.

03:01In World War II, as Britain fought on the front lines of civilization, Winston Churchill

03:07appealed to Americans with these famous words, give us the tools and we'll finish the job.

03:15Today, as Israel fights on the front line of civilization, I, too, appeal to America.

03:21Give us the tools faster and we'll finish the job faster.

03:27That's Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing Congress.

03:29He then went on in the speech to condemn pro-Palestinian protesters, saying they chose to stand with

03:36evil.

03:37My friends, defeating our brutal enemies requires both courage and clarity.

03:44Clarity begins by knowing the difference between good and evil.

03:50Yet incredibly, many anti-Israel protesters, many choose to stand with evil.

03:58They stand with Hamas.

04:00They stand with rapists and murderers.

04:02Well, I have a message for these protesters.

04:06When the tyrants of Tehran, who hang gays from cranes and murder women for not covering

04:12their hair, are praising, promoting and funding you, you have officially become Iran's useful

04:18idiots.

04:20They become useful idiots, according to Benjamin Netanyahu.

04:22I listened to the speech.

04:23I must say, look, I think Benjamin Netanyahu has been leading a government that is increasingly

04:30right wing, extreme in many, many ways.

04:32And even before the heinous attack on Israel on October the 7th was seeing his popularity

04:39wane very, very rapidly.

04:43Then those appalling, the appalling atrocity happened.

04:47Many people, of course, understandably in Israel were deeply shaken by this, the worst

04:52attack that Jews have faced since the Holocaust.

04:56And clearly there was an appetite to take action to prevent this ever happening again.

05:01Perfectly understandable in my view.

05:05Benjamin Netanyahu clearly is a man now that is desperate to cling on to power, to do anything

05:10in his power to do it.

05:12And increasingly you have to question what the end game is of this war, whether it is

05:16actually helping or harming Israel's perception in the international world and whether it's

05:21actually serving the interests of the hostages, over 100 of them, as I say, who are still

05:26in harm's way and not safely returned to their families.

05:29So these discussions are now going to be continuing, I believe, in Rome.

05:33There are going to be further discussions happening in the coming days.

05:35We hope that there is a breakthrough.

05:36We haven't seen one yet, but he's a man under pressure.

05:39But I tell you this, whatever you think of Benjamin Netanyahu, and I'm not a fan, his

05:43speech was a masterclass in oratory.

05:48I mean, he held that room.

05:50Yes, there were many Republicans there.

05:51A number of Democrats didn't attend, including Kamala Harris, who had other things to do,

05:57although she was going to meet Ben.

05:59I think she did meet Benjamin Netanyahu separately, but it was a masterclass in oratory.

06:04He absolutely gave an unequivocal defense of his country's prosecution of this war and

06:11why it was not only Israel's war, but America's war as well.

06:16Now, Labour Party here is basically saying that, one, it's not going to stand in the

06:20way of an arrest warrant for him if that's where it goes.

06:24Number two, it has also restored money to the United Nations, a human and relief works

06:31agency.

06:32And third, it is now also looking at British arms sales to Israel and what should happen

06:39there, whether they should just be purely defensive or whether offensive weapons should

06:42also be provided.

06:44My question to you on the back of all this is this, is Labour's tougher approach to relations

06:48with Israel right?

06:51What do you make of the new indications coming out, the noises coming out of the new Labour

06:57government in its approach to Israel?

06:59Well, I think it's definitely welcome to see Labour showing recognition that it is crucial

07:08to uphold international human rights, the rule of law and allow the institutions that

07:13have been set up to protect all of us to work unabated.

07:17I think that this also reflects not only the restoration of UNRWA funding and also these

07:23potential arms embargoes as well as the ICC complaint withdrawal, really also reflect

07:28and there's a credit to the huge number of civil society organisations, grassroots campaigners

07:35and party members who kept up the pressure on Labour over the last few months to ensure

07:41that if they were to get into power, they would hold Israel to account.

07:45Obviously this is not enough just now, we do need increased pressure from the UK as

07:51well as the wider international community to ensure that Israel is forced to stop their

07:55brutal assault on Gaza, but this is a necessary first step and we should welcome it and celebrate

08:01the victory of these civil society campaigners.

08:03Emily, what do you make of the response from the Board of Deputies of British Jews and

08:08the Jewish Leadership Council that issued a joint statement on Friday saying and I quote,

08:12We are concerned that the cumulative effect of these announcements in quick succession

08:16signal a significant shift in policy away from Israel being a key UK ally.

08:22This would not only be a strategic error, but a moral one.

08:28You know, as a member of the Jewish community, myself and others, particularly other Jewish

08:32people of my generation, I think have been astounded, frankly, by the moral failing of

08:38many of these institutions, like the Board of Deputies, like the JLD, to fail to condemn

08:44what Israel is doing in Gaza, to position the safety of Jewish people or Jewish people's

08:48interests on the side of a government that is willing to cause such violence and mass

08:54death and destruction.

08:56I don't think that they do actually have the interests of Jewish people at heart, because

09:02the interests of Jewish people are the same as all minority communities in this country.

09:06It's making sure that democracy is upheld, that human rights are respected, that the

09:10rule of law is enshrined, you know, where Israel does not get a free pass.

09:14It is a country like any other and should be treated as such.

09:17And to see our institutions over and over again defend what is inherently becoming increasingly

09:23or is already indefensible is both embarrassing and a deep moral failing.

09:29Why do you think, if that's the case, Emily, that Binyamin Netanyahu in Washington on Wednesday

09:34was cheered to the rafters and given standing ovation after standing ovation practically

09:40after every major point that he made during the course of his speech?

09:46Yeah, I mean, it's a great question.

09:47I also watched with shock, actually.

09:50It's a brilliant piece of oratory, though.

09:53I mean, maybe, but I mean, he's still obviously doing some terrible things.

09:56And it's really disappointing.

09:58A lot of people would argue that, but it was well delivered.

10:01Yeah, I mean, lots of things are well delivered.

10:03But I think that, you know, what I think is concerning or what is important for us to

10:06remember, I think, is the broader geopolitical context.

10:09So what we saw there is a reminder that, you know, there's lots of different international

10:13governments, such as the US, who have a vested interest potentially in this war continuing.

10:18And we need to ask ourselves why.

10:20You know, we need to ask ourselves who benefits from arms being continued to be sold to regimes

10:26that commit human rights abuses.

10:27Israel's one of those.

10:28It's not the only one.

10:29And use this moment to think about what kind of political reality or political future we

10:33want.

10:33We do not want people who are war criminals being applauded in governments that are supposed

10:37to uphold democracy.

10:38We do not want to see, you know, even in the last hour, Israel just bombed a school and

10:43killed 30 people.

10:44You know, the signal of what happened in Washington earlier this week is that Palestinian lives

10:49don't matter.

10:50And, you know, for myself and for many others who see this war being perpetrated in the

10:54name of Jewish people, we are here to say, no, that is not.

10:57That is both immoral, unjustifiable.

11:00And we will take a stand against that.

11:02And I think that, you know, people who stood up and applauded Bibi Netanyahu in Congress

11:06last week should be frankly ashamed of themselves.

11:08Emily, do you want to hear more from the Labour government about expansion of settlements

11:15in the West Bank?

11:16There are 700,000 people now living in the West Bank.

11:18Bibi Netanyahu the other day came out in his typically pugilistic manner, saying that this

11:25is the ancient land of the Jews.

11:26This is part of Judea and Samaria, and we're not going to move anywhere.

11:30And this has already been, again, the International Court of Justice basically saying that this

11:35is in contravention of international law.

11:36Would you like to see the Labour government go further and actually also talk about settlements

11:40in the West Bank?

11:42Absolutely.

11:43I mean, I think that, you know, Labour and all of the international community should

11:47now be really putting their utmost attention onto not only what has happened, what happened

11:53on October 7th and since, but also what has been happening arguably since 1948 and particularly

11:58since 1967 as well, which is deep injustice around land theft, the erasure of Palestinian

12:05identity, human rights within the area, the treatment of Palestinians within 48 as well.

12:10And this is a whole package.

12:11We have to look at the systems that exist rather than try and look at isolated incidents.

12:15You know, I think sanctions on individual settlers is obviously one step, but we need

12:18to be looking at this as a whole and making sure that the government is also responding

12:23to the ICJ announcement around the occupied territories and apartheid that came out last

12:28week as well.

12:29And these are all things that Labour should be focusing on in conjunction with the European

12:34Union and other international community members to make sure that Israel is held accountable

12:38and that we can actually see a resolution between the river and the sea that ensures

12:43freedom, democracy and human rights for all.

12:44Emily, my final question to you is this, and I'm always very conscious about drawing

12:48conclusions about communities and treating them as monolithic blocks, which I think is

12:52dangerous to do.

12:53To what extent are you regarded as a sellout by your fellow compatriots, Jewish compatriots,

13:01or as actually someone whose views are widely shared amongst certain Jews?

13:05I mean, can you give us a sense of whether you're on an island on your own or whether

13:09this is quite a widespread view that you're promulgating here?

13:13Yeah, I mean, I think it's an interesting question.

13:15You know, what we've seen particularly, I think, you know, there's increasingly numbers

13:18of Jewish people speaking out against Israel's actions, both in Gaza, but broadly in general,

13:24who are forming new communities.

13:26You know, Nahman is a good example of that.

13:28I think the pushback to that has been to potentially sort of chastise us or attack us as self-hating

13:33Jews or not really Jewish or whatever it is they want to say.

13:36But actually, we know that we, in many ways, are the future of our community.

13:41You know, we are the people who are standing up and saying we want to live and understand

13:45our Jewish values as ones which uphold freedom and justice and human rights and a way to

13:52exist in the world and make sure our Jewishness is not in competition with our broader value.

13:59You know, I think often at this time, support for Israel means that often you have to sort

14:03of siphon off your other values in order to support what Israel is doing.

14:08And there's so many more Jewish people waking up and saying, I don't want to do that anymore.

14:11And I think what we, you know, whether we're a minority or not, you know,

14:14you never can tell that, you know, there's always that joke, two Jews, three opinions.

14:18Right.

14:18But I do think there are increasing numbers of Jewish people who see what Israel is doing and

14:22say, this is not my Jewish values and we are providing a home for that.

14:26That two Jews, three opinions is not confined to Jews, by the way.

14:29I can tell you it also applies to many other people as well.

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