Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has considered the possibility of being arrested abroad under an International Criminal Court warrant, joking that Israeli special forces could be given “a new task” if he were detained.
In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Netanyahu was asked whether he worries that a medical emergency could force his aircraft to land in a country that recognizes the ICC and might seek to arrest him.
Netanyahu during an interview with Fox News
(Video: Fox News)
“It scares me in this sense for you,” Hannity said. “You travel internationally. God forbid you had a medical emergency and you need to land, and you’re about to land in a country that recognizes the ICC. It could complicate things. Do you worry about that?”
“Yeah, I think about it,” Netanyahu replied. “You know, we have special forces around. I served with them for five years.”
Hannity interjected by referring to a possible “Plan B” and said the IDF has a particularly tough reputation.
“Let’s give them a new task,” Netanyahu responded.
Netanyahu then denounced the court as part of what he described as a corrupt international system.
“It’s the corruption of the international system,” he said. “It’s an unelected bureaucracy that sits in The Hague that could arrest American soldiers because you don’t recognize this corrupt body any more than we do.”
He argued that the court could also target U.S. troops fighting alongside Israel against Iran.
“They could say that the president of the United States is a war criminal,” Netanyahu said. “That American soldiers valiantly fighting next to us, shoulder to shoulder against the tyranny in Tehran, that they’re war criminals. They could pick them up.”