Israel bracing for ICJ verdict

EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borell has urged Israel “not to threaten” judges of the ICC, whose chief prosecutor has sought an arrest warrant for Netanyahu.

• “I ask everyone, starting with the Israeli government, but also certain European governments, not to intimidate the judges, not to threaten them,” Borrell told Spanish public television channel TVE.

• Earlier this week, Netanyahu, responding to a question about whether he would fear travelling internationally after a potential ICC warrant, said he would not and that the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, “should be concerned about his status”.

• Khan says he was also warned by a senior Western official that the ICC should be “for Africa and for thugs like Putin”, not for the West and its allies.

Sources: Al Jazeera

• In less than two hours from now, the president of the court, Nawaf Salam, will read the ruling that the court’s 15+1 judges have decided on. The plus one is an Israeli judge who has been added. A country that does not have a judge can add one when it’s involved.

The big question now is: Will the court decide, as South Africa has requested… to order Israel to immediately stop its military operation, not only in Rafah but in the whole of Gaza?

It would be a binding order, but of course, the court can’t enforce it. It doesn’t have a police force. But it will be very significant to hear what the court has to say.

Sources: Al Jazeera