Netanyahu To Face Arrest If He Visits Italy, Says Minister After ICC Warrant

Rome:

Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said Thursday his country would be obliged to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visited, after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant.

The ICC earlier also issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu's former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas's military chief Mohammed Deif.

Crosetto -- whose country holds the G7 rotating presidency this year -- told RAI television's Porta a Porta programme that he believed the ICC was "wrong" to put Netanyahu and Gallant on the same level as Hamas.

But he said that if Netanyahu or Gallant "were to come to Italy, we would have to arrest them".

It was not a political choice but Italy was bound as a member of the ICC to act on the court's warrants, Crosetto said.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani had earlier been more cautious, saying: "We support the ICC, while always remembering that the court must play a legal role and not a political role.

"We will evaluate together with our allies what to do and how to interpret this decision."

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