Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar addressed the arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant at the opening of the meeting of the National Religious Party.
"The warrants issued by the entity called the "International Criminal Court" in The Hague overshadow all our internal disputes. It is a significant threat to the attempt to undermine Israel's right to self-defense. A right that exists for every country in the world, and Israel is the most attacked country in the world, the most threatened country in the world, and the only country that faces an open and public threat of destruction from other countries."
"The eyes should be on Washington. I suggest paying attention to the statements and remarks since Thursday from senators and senior officials in the upcoming American administration, which clearly indicate that this is completely unacceptable in the eyes of the U.S., which, like us, is not a member of the ICC. Therefore, I advise anyone who is in a hurry, any country that is eager to embrace the court's decision, to be cautious and not to find out shortly that they are in an offside position."
Just an hour ago, the British Foreign Secretary announced that the United Kingdom would enforce the International Court's arrest warrant and detain Netanyahu and Gallant if they land on its territory. Before that, similar declarations were made by the Netherlands, Jordan, and several other European countries, unlike, for example, the USA, Hungary, Germany, and others who announced that they would not enforce the arrest warrant.
Sa'ar is going to the Czech Republic to gather diplomatic aid.
Sa'ar added: "I will be leaving for Prague this week, I spoke twice last Thursday with my Czech counterpart, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky. He emphasized the moral distortion of equating the terrorist and those who try to defend or protect their country from terrorism on the same level, and the damage to the court's credibility as a result. I am meeting not only with the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, the Foreign Minister, and the Chairman of the Czech Senate, but also with our friends in the Czech Parliament, who are discussing the suspension of the Czech Republic's membership in the ICC in light of this distorted decision."
"Czechia is a friendly and principled country." I will ask the Czechs, do not allow us to be sacrificed like the Western countries sacrificed Czechoslovakia in 1938. Stand with us, do not allow us to be abandoned like Czechoslovakia was abandoned by the Western countries in 1938.
