After ICC Arrest Warrant, Netanyahu Invokes 1894 Dreyfus Trial (X image @IsraeliPM)
Tel Aviv, Israel: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likened the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant against him to the infamous Dreyfus trial of 1894. The Dreyfus trial, which began in 1894, involved a Jewish French army officer falsely accused of treason based on fabricated evidence. The court accused Netanyahu of committing war crimes in Gaza.
The ICC’s move accuses Netanyahu and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant of war crimes in the ongoing war in Gaza. Netanyahu slammed the ruling as “anti-Semitic” and reflective of a “modern-day Dreyfus trial.”
The ICC has issued warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The warrants mark the first time an Israeli head of state has been targeted by the court.
Also Read: ICC Issues Arrest Warrant Against Netanyahu For Committing War Crimes In Gaza
Rejecting the ruling, Netanyahu called it “absurd and false.” He also accused Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan of corruption and alleged the decision was an attempt to distract from accusations of sexual harassment against Khan. An external investigation is on against Khan over sexual misconduct accusations, which Khan has denied.
Human rights group B’Tselem, however, welcomed the ICC’s actions, urging international enforcement of the warrants. The group called the warrants “a critical step toward accountability for leaders responsible for crimes committed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.
“The anti-Semitic decision of the International Criminal Court is comparable to a modern-day Dreyfus trial and it will end in the same way,” Netanyahu declared, referring to the wrongful conviction of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish French army officer.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
“The antisemitic decision of the international court in The Hague is a modern Dreyfus trial, and it will end the same way.
Full remarks >>https://t.co/WLl2a128ZD pic.twitter.com/LaOimNjY6p
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) November 21, 2024
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The Dreyfus Affair was one of the most controversial legal scandals of 19th-century France, which was allegedly marked by anti-Semitism and judicial corruption. Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jewish army captain, was wrongfully convicted of treason in 1894 based on fabricated evidence. Stripped of his rank in a humiliating public ceremony and exiled to Devil’s Island, a former penal colony in French Guiana, Dreyfus’s plight became a symbol of systemic injustice.
The French authorities accused Dreyfus of leaking military secrets based on a scrap of handwriting vaguely resembling his own. The trial resulted in a conviction despite evidence pointing to another officer, Ferdinand Esterhazy, as the true culprit.
