Israeli Minister Smotrich Says ICC Prosecutor Seeks Arrest Warrant

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Monday that the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor has requested a secret arrest warrant for him, a move he described as “a declaration of war” and blamed on the Palestinian Authority.

Smotrich did not specify the allegations he faces. The process of seeking warrants is confidential and requires approval by ICC judges. The court declined to comment, though it recently denied that warrants had been issued for five Israeli officials.

In response, Smotrich ordered the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar, a Palestinian Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank. He holds wide authority over Israeli policies in the territory.

Israel’s Supreme Court upheld an eviction order for Khan al-Ahmar in 2018, but it has not been enforced after warnings from the United Nations, the ICC and others that doing so would violate international law.

Last June, the United Kingdom and four other Western countries sanctioned Smotrich and another far-right minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, over what they said were repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank. The Israeli government called the measures “outrageous.”

On Sunday, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper cited sources as saying the ICC prosecutor had requested new arrest warrants for five Israeli political and military officials, including Smotrich, for alleged crimes against Palestinians.

But a spokesperson for the court at the time told media it “denies the issuance of new arrest warrants in the situation in the State of Palestine.”

In November 2024, ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, saying there were “reasonable grounds” to believe the men bore criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza.

The Israeli government and both men rejected the accusations.

The ICC prosecutor had also applied in May 2024 for arrest warrants for three leaders of the Palestinian armed group Hamas — Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, military chief Mohammed Deif and political leader Ismail Haniyeh — on the same charges. All three men were killed by Israeli forces before any warrants were issued.

The ICC has the authority to prosecute those accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes on the territory of states party to the Rome Statute, its founding treaty.

Israel is not an ICC member state and rejects its jurisdiction. However, the court ruled in 2021 that it had jurisdiction over the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza because the UN secretary general had accepted the Palestinians as a member.