Key points
- Merz is set to become the next chancellor
- ICC issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu and Gallant
JERUSALEM, Palestine: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Germany’s conservative leader Friedrich Merz on his party’s election victory and expressed hope of visiting him despite an arrest warrant, his office said Monday.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu had a warm conversation last night with Friedrich Merz and congratulated him on his win,” his office said a statement.
“Merz thanked the prime minister for his call and said he would invite him for an official visit to Germany, openly defying the ICC’s scandalous decision to label the prime minister as a war criminal.”
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Netanyahu, former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas’s slain military chief Mohammed Deif.
Starvation in Gaza
The court is investigating Israel’s conduct in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, launched after the Palestinian militant group’s deadly October 7, 2023, attacks.
The ICC said it found “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore “criminal responsibility” for the war crime of starvation in Gaza, as well as the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts.
Netanyahu has dismissed the move as anti-Semitic.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the ICC, accusing it of “abusing its power” in issuing the warrant against Netanyahu.
Merz is set to become the next chancellor after his CDU/CSU alliance swept to victory in Sunday’s election.
