US defense lawyer and former Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz is assembling a team to defend Israeli leaders in The Hague, he announced in a Sunday Wall Street Journal op-ed.
Dershowitz noted that the case would be tried in the court of public opinion as well as in The Hague.
"For that reason, I am assembling a team of world-class lawyers from around the globe to help defend Israeli leaders against the false charges," Dershowitz wrote.
Last Thursday, the International Criminal Court issued international arrest warrants for war crimes allegedly committed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.
Various countries, such as the Netherlands, France, and Ireland, have announced they would uphold the ICC decision and arrest Netanyanhy and Gallant if they chose to land in those countries.
However, the United States rejected the ICC decision.
"The United States fundamentally rejects the Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials. We remain deeply concerned by the Prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision," a government spokesperson said.
In the WSJ op-ed, Dershowitz added that several prominent lawyers have already promised to join the legal battle, including multiple former US attorneys and a former FBI director.
No jurisdiction against Israel
“We will argue that the ICC has no jurisdiction against Israel, not only because it isn’t a member, but also because the treaty that established that court precludes it from considering cases against any country with a valid judicial system that is willing and able to investigate the alleged crimes,” he wrote.
“We will also demonstrate that Israel’s actions in Gaza don’t violate any international law or laws of war over which the ICC has jurisdiction.”
Germany, which supplies 30% of Israel’s military equipment, expressed criticism of the petition for arrest warrants, saying that the court had no jurisdiction since Israel has not signed the Rome Statute. Nevertheless, Germany has made clear in the past that it will respect the ICC’s decisions.
Dershowitz continued, “By issuing arrest warrants… the court is seeking to equate the terrorism of Hamas, which murdered, raped, and kidnapped approximately 1,450 Israelis, mostly civilians, with the self-defense efforts of Israel to prevent a promised recurrence of Oct. 7.”
Netanyahu responded publicly on Thursday evening, condemning the decision that ruled for his arrest. "This is a moral bankruptcy that undermines the natural right of democracies to defend themselves against murderous terrorism," he said.
Israel's President Isaac Herzog similarly noted that the decision reflects the choice to side with "terror and evil over democracy and freedom" and that it turned the justice system into a human shield for Hamas's crimes against humanity.
Dershowitz concluded, “Our group of lawyers hopes to bring justice to Israel and its leaders, as well as the rule of international law, which is being disgraced and destroyed by the ICC. We welcome others to join in this endeavor.”