Joe Biden did not mince his words. The move by the International Criminal CourtAn international tribunal that has jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for committing genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.'s chief prosecutor to seek the arrest of Benjamin NetanyahuThe prime minister of Israel. and his defence minister was "outrageous". There was, he said, "no equivalence - none - between Israel and HamasA militant Palestinian organisation, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007. It is listed as a terrorist organisation in the UK.".¹

Biden was responding to an announcement by Karim Khan that he was going to apply for arrest warrants for the two Israelis and three Hamas leaders.

Khan wants to charge Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant with war crimes and crimes against humanity. These include deliberately attacking and starving civilians.

He also wants to arrest Hamas's leader, Yahya Sinwar, and two of his colleagues. The charges against them include organising mass murder, torture, rape and kidnapping.

Whether the ICC's judges will agree to the arrest warrants remains to be seen.

Both sides have reacted with fury. But others say the charges make sense. They argue that the conflict has caused appalling suffering, for which both parties are responsible.

If the judges approve the warrants, any of the 124 countries which recognise the ICC would be theoretically obligedLegally or morally bound to do something. to arrest any of the accused who visited it - Britain among them.

War crimes are defined by the Geneva ConventionInternational humanitarian laws that defines how people should be treated during war. This includes the treatment of prisoners of war, and the protection of civilians. as "wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including... taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property". Crimes against humanity are defined as ones committed during a war but directed against civiliansPeople who are not in the army or the police..

If the cases come to court, the one against the Hamas leaders will be much easier to prove: there is no shortage of evidence about the barbarous attacks carried out on 7 OctoberOn 7 October 2023, the Palestinian group Hamas, which controls Gaza, carried out a series of surprise attacks on Israel, killing more than 1,000 people and taking more than 200 hostages. .

With Netanyahu and Gallant, the challenge for prosecutors is to prove that civilians were killed deliberately and with the two men's approval.

The case raises many questions about other political leaders. Should Tony BlairTony Blair was the leader of the Labour party. He was British prime minister from 1997 to 2007.  be seen as a criminal for waging war against Saddam HusseinThe president of Iraq from 1979 until 2003, when he was toppled by the USA. He was compared with Hitler because of his persecution of Kurds, an ethnic minority in northern Iraq, and his 1990 invasion of neighbouring Kuwait.? Or Barack ObamaThe Democrat US president between 2008 and 2016. for renewing attacks on the TalibanA violent fundamentalist Islamic movement that enforces sharia law and denies education to women.?

They may not have countenanced targeting civilians, but some would say that as commanders-in-chief they were ultimately responsible for atrocities or careless killings carried out by their troops. Others would say that this view lets individual soldiers off the hook.  

Are they both war criminals?

Yes: Yahya Sinwar planned the 7 October attacks in which 1,143 people were killed, including 767 civilians, and 250 kidnapped. Netanyahu's invasion has likely killed tens of thousands of innocent people.

No: Netanyahu is different from Sinwar, because he is the leader of a country justified in defending itself. Sinwar is chiefly guilty of the deaths of civilians in GazaThe smaller of two Palestinian territories, home to two million people. It is located on the Mediterranean coast, bordered by Israel and Egypt. , since he provoked the invasion.  

Or... Sinwar is a terrorist, not a war criminal. The difference is that terrorists believe it is okay to target civilians, while war criminals accept it is wrong but do it anyway.