{"id":6751,"date":"2026-05-19T13:35:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/19\/israeli-far-right-minister-smotrich-says-icc-seeks-his-arrest\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T13:35:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:35:44","slug":"israeli-far-right-minister-smotrich-says-icc-seeks-his-arrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/19\/israeli-far-right-minister-smotrich-says-icc-seeks-his-arrest\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli far-right minister Smotrich says ICC seeks his arrest"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Smotrich is the third Israeli official targeted by the ICC, after Netanyahu and Gallant, for their war crimes in Gaza.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Israeli far-right Finance Minister \u2060Bezalel Smotrich said he was informed that the \u2060International Criminal \u2060Court (ICC) in \u2060The Hague \u2060had \u2060requested a warrant for his arrest.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at \u2060a news conference on Tuesday, Smotrich did not specify who had informed him about the warrant the previous evening. The process of seeking warrants \u2060is confidential.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/12\/palestine-weekly-wrap-israeli-settlers-rampage-through-west-bank-villages\">Palestine weekly wrap: Israeli settlers rampage through West Bank villages<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/5\/14\/may-your-village-burn-israeli-flag-march-returns-to-east-jerusalem\">\u2018May your village burn\u2019: Israeli Flag March returns to East Jerusalem<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2026\/5\/15\/nakba-jewish-voices-are-challenging-the-stories-israel-tells-about-itself\">Nakba: Jewish voices are challenging the stories Israel tells about itself<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Smotrich called the arrest warrants against Israeli officials \u201ca declaration \u2060of war\u201d, adding: \u201cAnd in the face of a declaration of war, we will fight back with a vengeance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also attacked \u201cthe terrorist organisation mistakenly called the Palestinian Authority\u201d, reflecting the Israeli government\u2019s anger at what it sees as Palestinian \u2060backing for international legal action over Israel\u2019s military actions in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>Announcing that he would go on the attack after the news of this arrest warrant, Smotrich said he \u201cwill sign an order to evacuate Khan al-Ahmar\u201d, forcibly transferring the Palestinian community from this occupied West Bank village that has endured a<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2023\/1\/31\/palestinians-in-khan-al-ahmar-stand-ground-amid-displacement-plan\"> years-long legal battle <\/a>with Israeli authorities for its survival.<\/p>\n<p>In November 2024, the ICC issued <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/12\/15\/icc-rejects-israeli-bid-to-block-gaza-war-crimes-investigation\">arrest warrants<\/a> for Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for \u201ccrimes against humanity and war crimes\u201d committed during Israel\u2019s genocidal war on Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>Judges and prosecutors at the ICC have since been cut off by banks, credit card companies and tech giants like Amazon as a result of sanctions brought by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n<p>The court also issued arrest warrants for several Hamas leaders who were subsequently killed in Israeli operations.<\/p>\n<p>The ICC accusations reportedly centre on Smotrich\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/11\/20\/israels-emptying-of-west-bank-refugee-camps-amounts-to-war-crimes-hrw\">forced displacement orders<\/a> for Palestinians, his support for moving Israeli settlers into occupied territory, and his claim it may be \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/8\/8\/palestine-urges-icc-arrest-warrant-for-smotrich-over-call-to-starve-gaza\">justified and moral<\/a>\u201d to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2026\/2\/5\/starvation-by-design-how-israel-turned-food-into-a-weapon-of-war-in-ga\">starve Palestinians<\/a> in Gaza. If approved, it would make Smotrich the third Israeli official targeted by the court, after <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/newsfeed\/2026\/5\/18\/netanyahu-says-israel-controls-60-percent-of-gaza\">Netanyahu<\/a> and Gallant.<\/p>\n<p>The United Kingdom and four other countries last year imposed sanctions on Smotrich and another far-right Israeli cabinet minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, accusing them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians in the \u200cWest Bank.<\/p>\n<p>Smotrich has called for the permanent conquest of Gaza and the re-establishment of Jewish settlements there that Israel had abandoned in 2005, notions that \u200cNetanyahu \u200chas rejected.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Smotrich is the third Israeli official targeted by the ICC, after Netanyahu and Gallant, for their war crimes in Gaza. Israeli far-right Finance Minister \u2060Bezalel Smotrich said he was informed that the \u2060International Criminal \u2060Court (ICC) in \u2060The Hague \u2060had \u2060requested a warrant for his arrest. Speaking at \u2060a news conference on Tuesday, Smotrich did &#8230; <a title=\"Israeli far-right minister Smotrich says ICC seeks his arrest\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/19\/israeli-far-right-minister-smotrich-says-icc-seeks-his-arrest\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Israeli far-right minister Smotrich says ICC seeks his arrest\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}