Labour has dropped the previous Tory government’s plan to challenge the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) application for an arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu, Downing Street has said.
A No 10 spokeswoman confirmed that the Government will not submit an objection.
“This was a proposal by the previous government which was not submitted before the election, and which I can confirm the Government will not be pursuing in line with our long standing position that this is a matter for the court to decide on,” the spokeswoman said.
She noted that the Government believes very strongly in the separation of powers and the rule of law domestically and internationally.
“I think you would note that the courts have already received a number of submissions on either side, so they are well seized of the arguments to make their independent determinations,” she said.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan in May requested arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Mr Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant over Israel’s war in Gaza.
Rishi Sunak’s government had told the ICC it intended to submit arguments questioning whether the ICC had the right to order the arrest of Israeli nationals.
The Hague-based war crimes court gave the UK until Friday to decide whether it would do so.
The conflict in Gaza has been a thorn in the Labour leader’s side, with his initial refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire costing the party votes and seats in the General Election despite its landslide.
Former MP Jonathan Ashworth was one of several Labour candidates defeated by independents who made Gaza a major part of their campaign.
Since entering Government, Labour has restored funding to the United Nations’ Palestine relief agency UNRWA, in a major shift from the stance of the previous government which had suspended funding in January.
Sir Keir has also stressed that a Palestinian state has an “undeniable right” to be recognised as part of a Middle East peace process.
Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s chief executive, said: “This was a totally misguided intervention by the last government and we strongly welcome the decision to drop it.
“Instead of trying to thwart the ICC’s much-needed Palestine investigation, the UK should be backing efforts to bring all perpetrators of war crimes and possible genocide to justice.”
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