The arrest warrants issued today by the International Criminal Court against Israeli PM Benjamin Natanyahu and erstwhile defence minister Yoav Gallant are long overdue.

Better late than never might be a justified reaction but in this instance it is more a case of too little too late.

The slow motion working of international justice has ensured that Netanyahu and his morally deranged sidekicks can continue to perpetrate a genocide in front of the eyes of the world with near-total impunity.

The typical modus operandi of enforcement authorities when a crime is being committed is to intervene immediately not just for the sake of due process, but also to prevent those crimes from continuing,

The failure of the ICC to act decisively earlier against Israel has no doubt led to the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent people.

Today’s move by the ICC will only be a cause of celebration if the international community rallies round to stop the slaughter.

However, the likelihood is that western leaders who are actively aiding and abetting Israel’s genocide will continue to hold a protective shield around the indicted in order to frustrate the process of holding them to account.

IHRC calls on the British PM Keir Starmer to drop his misplaced support of Israel, including military cooperation in the form of intelligence gathering for Tel Aviv and supplying weapons, and commit to the moral imperative of working to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant.

For more information or comment please contact the Press Office on (+44) 208 904 0222  or (+44) 7958 522196 or email media@ihrc.org