Israeli finance minister says ICC arrest warrant issued for him

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Tuesday that he had been informed of an international arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“Last night I was informed that a request for a secret international arrest warrant was filed against me by the prosecutor of the antisemitic court in The Hague,” Smotrich told a news conference, as cited by the daily Yedioth Ahronoth.

Smotrich described the arrest warrant against him as “a declaration of war” and an attempt “to impose a policy of security suicide on us through sanctions and arrest warrants.”

“We will not accept hypocritical dictates from biased bodies that repeatedly stand against the State of Israel,” he added, saying that “a large part of European countries have never excelled in love of Zion. Hypocrisy and double standards have become the hallmark of many countries.”

On Sunday, the daily Haaretz, citing an unnamed diplomatic source, said the ICC chief prosecutor requested sealed arrest warrants for “an unspecified number of Israeli officials.”

The warrants would be centered on three Israeli army officials and two politicians, the source said, adding that the timing of the request remains unknown.

And on Monday, British news outlet Middle East Eye reported that a request had been submitted to the ICC seeking secret arrest warrants against Smotrich and Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on charges of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Smotrich also said he would press for an eviction order for the Palestinian Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank after learning of the warrant request.

However, he noted that “signing an evacuation order is not within the authority of a finance minister.”

Defending his illegal settlement policies in the occupied West Bank, which may be behind the request, Smotrich said: “I had the honor of leading a revolution in the cradle of our eternal biblical homeland, in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank).”

He boasted on X of establishing more than 100 new settlements, alongside 160 agricultural farms.

The Israeli minister went on to threaten to “economically harm the Palestinian Authority, not with words and promises, but with actions.”

Around 200 Palestinians live in the Bedouin community in tin homes and tents and have for years faced displacement attempts linked to the illegal Israeli settlement project known as “E1.”

Khan al-Ahmar is surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements and lies in an area targeted by Israel for the implementation of the project.

The plan includes the construction of more than 3,500 illegal settlement units aimed at linking the settlement of Maale Adumim with East Jerusalem, isolating the city from its Palestinian surroundings and effectively dividing the occupied West Bank into two parts.

The project has faced broad international opposition because its implementation is seen as undermining the two-state solution and establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Years ago, Israel’s Supreme Court approved the demolition and evacuation of Khan al-Ahmar as part of preparations for implementing the illegal E1 settlement project.

Following the signing of the Oslo II Accord in 1995 between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Israel exploited the presence of Bedouins in Area C — which falls under Israeli security and administrative control — to demolish their homes and encampments.

Israel has claimed the Bedouin encampments pose a “security threat to surrounding settlements” and obstruct Israeli urban expansion east of Jerusalem.