ICC judges reject Israel's request to withdraw Netanyahu arrest warrant
Israel made the request while the ICC reviews its challenge over the court's jurisdiction to weigh in on its war on Gaza.
The decision, dated 9 July 2025, was published on the ICC website on Wednesday.
The judges also rejected an Israeli request to suspend the court's broader investigation into alleged crimes in the occupied Palestinian Territories.
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Israel argued that the warrants should be withdrawn, citing a decision by appeals judges at the ICC in April that ordered a lower panel to reconsider Israel's objections about the court's jurisdiction in Gaza.
However, the judges rejected that reasoning, saying that Israel's jurisdictional challenge was still pending and the warrants would remain in place until the court ruled on that issue specifically.
The ICC has come under intense pressure to drop its war crimes probe.
Earlier this month, a senior legal advisor to the US State Department issued a dramatic threat to the court's oversight body, warning that "all options are on the table".
"We will use all appropriate and effective diplomatic, political and legal instruments to block ICC overreach," Reed Rubinstein, the US representative, warned.
The threat came just before the Trump administration announced it was imposing sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the UN's special rapporteur for Palestine.
The sanctions follow Albanese's scathing report on 30 June, in which she named over 60 companies, including major US technology firms like Google, Amazon and Microsoft, which she said were involved in "the transformation of Israel's economy of occupation to an economy of genocide".
Israel's effort to stop the ICC has, to date, failed to bear fruit.
Middle East Eye revealed on Tuesday that a British-Israeli defence lawyer threatened in May to ''destroy" the British chief prosecutor of the ICC, Karim Khan, unless he withdrew the arrest warrants.
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Middle East Eye
an hour ago
- Middle East Eye
Drone attacks target western oil companies in Iraq's Kurdistan
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New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters However the press visit to the site was cut short due to a security alert. The Kurdistan Region's Counter-Terrorism Service later said that a drone had struck an oil facility operated by DNO in Zakho, one of the locations included in the planned tour. Separately, another drone crashed in the village of Surezha, near the Erbil Gas Power Station. Oil fields targeted Since 14 July, at least six oil fields have been targeted by drone attacks, including sites operated by US companies - HKN and Hunt Oil were each hit twice - and DNO, which was also struck twice. Drone attacks have also occurred in other areas, both before and after 14 July, particularly near the US consulate in Erbil, the Erbil airport, and the 70s Peshmerga base in Sulaymaniyah. Drone attacks have increased in the Kurdistan Region since the 12-day war between Israel and Iran ended on 24 June. 'The drone attacks in Kurdish energy sites grew out of a sequence of drone attacks since 19 June on Kurdish security forces, where Iraqi militias were claiming that Kurdistan was supporting Israeli and US strikes on Iran,' Michael Knights, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute, told MEE. A general view shows the Sarsang oil field in the Chamanke district near the Kurdish city of Dohuk in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish, 17 July 2025 (Wladimir van Wilgenburg/MEE) Kurdish officials have claimed neutrality in the war. On 13 June, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani condemned Israel's attack on Iran and spoke with the Iranian foreign minister during the conflict - a stance welcomed by Iranian state media. 'On July 14 this drone and rocket campaign on Kurdistan and Kirkuk transitioned to an attack on Kurdistan's energy. 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After three days of attacks on this critical petroleum infrastructure, we are alarmed, and we are taking appropriate precautions to protect our personnel and our facilities,' Caggins told MEE. 'Most APIKUR member companies have temporarily paused oil production operations, and each day that operations are paused, there is a great financial loss to the people of Iraq.' The United States has also strongly condemned the drone attacks on its companies. 'Over 60 percent of KRG oil production has been halted due to the strikes in the past three days' - Mehmet Alaca, analyst 'The Government of Iraq has a duty to protect its territory and all of its citizens,' US Department of State spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement on Wednesday. 'These strikes target international companies that are working with Iraq to invest in Iraq's future.' Ankara-based analyst Mehmet Alaca told Middle East Eye that Baghdad has long used hard power to undermine Erbil and curb its autonomy. 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'We hope the federal government will assist in identifying those responsible and in taking the necessary legal measures against them,' Barzani said.
Middle East Eye
2 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Israel's Eilat port to shut down over unpaid debts triggered by Houthi attacks
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Dubai Eye
2 hours ago
- Dubai Eye
UK to lower voting age to 16 in landmark electoral reform
The British government said on Thursday it planned to give 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote in all UK elections in a major overhaul of the country's democratic system. The government said the proposed changes were part of an effort to boost public trust in democracy and would align voting rights across Britain, where younger voters already participate in devolved elections in Scotland and Wales. "They're old enough to go out to work, they're old enough to pay taxes ... and I think if you pay in, you should have the opportunity to say what you want your money spent on, which way the government should go," Prime Minister Keir Starmer told ITV News. The change will require parliamentary approval, but that is unlikely to present an obstacle because the policy was part of Starmer's election campaign last year which gave him a large majority. Despite that win, Starmer's popularity has fallen sharply in government after a series of missteps set against a difficult economic backdrop. His party sits second in most opinion polls behind Nigel Farage's right-wing Reform UK Party. A poll of 500 16 and 17 year-olds conducted by Merlin Strategy for ITV News showed 33 per cent said they would vote Labour, 20 per cent would vote Reform, 18 per cent would vote Green, 12 per cent Liberal Democrats and 10 per cent Conservative. There are about 1.6 million 16 and 17 year-olds in the UK, according to official data. Just over 48 million people were eligible to vote at the last election, in which turnout fell to its lowest since 2001. The next election is due in 2029. Research from other countries has shown lowering the voting age had no impact on election outcomes, but that 16-year-olds were more likely to vote than those first eligible at 18. "Voting at 16 will also help more young people to cast that all-important, habit-forming vote at a point when they can be supported with civic education," said Darren Hughes, Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Society. The reforms would also expand acceptable voter ID to include UK-issued bank cards and digital formats of existing IDs, such as driving licences and Veteran Cards. A more automated system will also be introduced to simplify the process of registering to vote. To tackle foreign interference, the government plans to tighten rules on political donations, including checks on contributions over 500 pounds (AED2,460) from unincorporated associations and closing loopholes used by shell companies. 'By reinforcing safeguards against foreign interference, we will strengthen our democratic institutions and protect them for future generations,' democracy minister Rushanara Ali said in a statement.
