How the ICC bared its teeth – and caught the West off guard | Defence in Depth

Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), is seeking the arrest of three of Hamas’s top commanders but also Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defence minister Yoav Gallant.

For those that support the ICC and its chief prosecutor, this demonstrates that the court is not simply an instrument of Western power - it shows that everybody is equal before the law, and that’s important for impartiality and credibility.

But for Israel and some of its Western allies, the warrant application is an outrage. It shows that the court has lost its way; drawing an unjustified parallel between the armed terrorist group Hamas and Israel – a democracy defending itself from unjustified attack.

In this episode of Defence in Depth, Roland Oliphant, senior foreign correspondent at The Telegraph, explains how the application has forced Western nations to pick a stance – to abide by a warrant, should one be issued, or ignore it and risk shredding the credibility of the institution.

Watch Roland’s video analysis above. Find more episodes of Defence in Depth on The Telegraph’s YouTube channel.