WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS
Steinmeier said that a possible conflict with the International Criminal Court over the arrest warrant for the Israeli Prime Minister should be avoided.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that the international legal order should be part of Germany's identity, but at the same time he indicated that Berlin should avoid a situation in which it would find itself in a possible conflict with the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"We, in particular, should make the international legal order part of our identity," Steinmeier said in an interview with German radio Deutschlandfunk. However, he stressed that a potential conflict with the ICC should be avoided.
"This is an appeal not to ignore international law, but to not test it in this case," Steinmeier said. The interview, which will be broadcast on Sunday, was obtained in advance by the German news agency DPA.
In the interview, Steinmeier also answered a question about the possibility that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz would ignore the ICC arrest warrant issued for Netanyahu. After winning the German election earlier this year, Merz said that Berlin would “find a way to allow him to come and go from Germany without arrest.”
The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu on suspicion of war crimes, including the use of starvation as a means of warfare, as well as crimes against humanity. Under the warrant, countries that support the court, including Germany, are obliged to arrest him if he enters their territory.
“I think it is completely absurd to think that the Israeli prime minister cannot visit the Federal Republic of Germany,” Merz said.
Meanwhile, the European Union has determined that Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip may have violated the terms of its association agreement with the EU, through human rights violations in Gaza, Politico reported last week.
