Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aircraft crossed the airspace of Greece, Italy and France on its way to the US despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant, raising questions over the three Rome Statute states parties’ obligations to the court, Anadolu reports.
“Granting Netanyahu transit permission on the grounds of ‘diplomatic necessity’ does not exempt these countries from their obligations under the Rome Statute,” Abdurrahman Erol, an international law expert at Istanbul Medeniyet University, said.
He said ICC precedent decisions concerning Hungary, Mongolia and Italy make clear that neither diplomatic necessity nor head-of-state immunity justifies non-compliance with the court’s arrest warrants.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Nov. 21, 2024, over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.
Since then, Netanyahu’s aircraft has repeatedly crossed the airspace of Rome Statute states parties during visits to the US.
