Yvette Cooper has refused to say whether Benjamin Netanyahu would be arrested if he came to the UK after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant.
Sir Keir Starmer has backed the ICC, with the Prime Minister’s official spokesman having said the Government respects the independence of the court.
But No 10 would not be drawn on the “hypothetical” of whether Mr Netanyahu would be arrested if he came to Britain.
The Home Secretary said this morning it was “not a matter for me” but she repeated that the Government “respected the independence” of the court.
Asked if the Israeli prime minister would be arrested if he came to Britain, Ms Cooper told Times Radio: “That is not a matter for me as the Home Secretary. International Criminal Court investigations rarely become a matter for the British legal or law enforcement processes or for the British government.
“If they ever do there are proper processes that need to be followed and it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment in advance on any of those as Home Secretary.
“What I can say is obviously we have always respected the independence of the International Criminal Court but those issues that they investigate are matters for them rather than for the Government.”
The Hague-based court issued an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister as well as Yoav Gallant, the former Israeli defence minister, and Mohammed Deif, a Hamas commander, on Thursday over the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Britain, along with the other 123 members of the ICC, is responsible for enforcing arrest warrants it issues.
Whitehall sources believe a Cabinet minister – possibly the Home Secretary or Justice Secretary – would need to seek a UK arrest warrant from the courts if the Government decided to enforce the ICC’s decision. It is not yet clear what the exact process would be.
The Telegraph has been told no move has yet been taken to order one and Mr Netanyahu has no known plans to visit the UK, avoiding the immediate need for a decision.
Mr Netanyahu’s office said Israel “utterly rejects the false and absurd charges of the International Criminal Court”.
Mr Gallant said the court’s decision “places the state of Israel and the murderous leaders of Hamas in the same row and thus legitimises the murder of babies, the rape of women and the abduction of the elderly from their beds”.
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