Analyis
Israel claims Netanyahu is free to visit Rome without an ICC arrest
Italy limited itself to not outright denying it and commenting with technically unimpeachable formulations such as Tajani's: “There are immunities and immunities must be respected.”
Like Poland and Hungary, Italy will grant Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu full immunity from the arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani made this clear on Wednesday evening on the sidelines of an event organized by the Italian Embassy at the Holy See: “It's all very clear. There are immunities and immunities must be respected.”
The news had begun to circulate after a meeting on Wednesday morning between Tel Aviv's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar and Justice Minister Carlo Nordio. “I told the minister that the politicisation of the ICJ and ICC is undermining their credibility and harming international law,” the Israeli minister wrote openly on X; then, in a meeting with the Jewish community in Rome, he made the point even more clearly: ”I spoke with Ministers Tajani and Nordio. I am not in the habit of recounting what was said, but there is no problem for anyone who comes to Rome, not even Netanyahu.”
The truth is that, at least according to the Ministry of Justice, the Italian position was much more nuanced. The talk with the Israeli minister, in a context described as “absolutely informal,” was only in general terms – “a technical opinion,” the ministry called it – about the Vienna Convention, which regulates among other things the immunities of heads of state, heads of government and foreign ministers when they are not in their own countries.
The Israeli delegation took what was said and extended it to Netanyahu as well, let the news slip to some media outlets (the first to mention the matter was the Times of Israel in its live online coverage of the day), and finally announced it as a done deal.
Italy limited itself to not outright denying it and commenting with technically unimpeachable formulations such as Tajani's: “There are immunities and immunities must be respected.” The government in Rome, which has been pondering what to do ever since the ICC issued the arrest warrant, would likely seek legal advice on this very expansive interpretation of immunity.
However, jurists are highly divided on the point, because the Vienna Convention is commonly seen as subordinate to the Rome Statute, the one that not only established the ICC but also defined the general rules and boundaries of international jurisdiction. The charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Netanyahu can in no way be considered crimes committed in the exercise of his governmental functions, so they do not enjoy the legal protections of the Vienna Convention.
Here, however, the matter becomes further complicated: Israel has never signed the Rome Statute – so for it there are no issues of any kind – but Italy is the country that prides itself on being the birthplace of the ICC, and sidestepping it, as the government seems to want to do, would mean digging a deep hole into the foundations of the history of international criminal law. One does not need to go too far back to recall the controversy against Mongolia, which hosted Russian President Putin in September without putting him in handcuffs, despite the fact that he, too, is a wanted person under an ICC warrant.
And again: when Poland let it be known last week that it would not arrest Netanyahu if he decided to attend the 80th anniversary of the opening of the gates of Auschwitz at the end of the month, an EU spokesman stressed that “the EU calls upon all states to ensure full cooperation with the ICC, including by the prompt execution of outstanding arrest warrants.”
Now Italy’s case is just as problematic, which, at least in words, seems to believe it is technically in the right to ignore the ICC's demands, but which in reality is performing the most political act imaginable, because this means glossing over all the criticisms made of Israel for the way it has handled its military operations in Gaza: a series of actions so heavy-handed that they have even led to a genocide case before the International Court of Justice. This is not an irrelevant detail for Rome, which continues to have stable diplomatic relations with the Palestinian National Authority and which, officially, is in favor of the “two peoples, two states” solution.
In all evidence, Minister Sa'ar's Italian trip produced important diplomatic results for Tel Aviv. Because, with the ceasefire agreed upon, so many sensitive issues remain open. And Israel needs friendly countries as never before, to regain the international credibility lost in nearly 500 days of war. Italy has answered the roll call.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/netanyahu-e-libero-di-venire-in-italia-nonostante-la-corte on 2025-01-16