Friends of Al-Aqsa seeks arrest warrant for Israeli President Isaac Herzog

 Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA) has now applied for the urgent consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions and Attorney General to institute criminal proceedings against Israeli President Herzog on charges of encouraging indiscriminate attacks by the Israeli military on civilians and civilian objects in Gaza. At the same time, FOA has also lodged an application for an arrest warrant against Herzog, pending DPP consent. In UK law, crimes under the Geneva Conventions Act 1957 require DPP and Attorney General consent before a private prosecution can be instituted. Herzog is expected to arrive in London on Tuesday and to leave on Friday.

 The application and charges sought to be laid against Herzog relate to two statements he made as early as 12 and 15 October 2023,i parts of which have since been repeated by senior Israeli military command conducting a campaign of indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian objects in Gaza. The resultant destruction of more than 90% of Gaza strongly infers indiscriminate attacks against civilians and the civilian populations by the Israeli military.

 In January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concluded that Israel’s actions in the Gaza strip had given rise to a serious risk of genocide being committed. Among the evidence submitted to the ICJ by South Africa were Herzog’s own statement: “The entire [Palestinian] nation out there is responsible. It is not true, this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved.” More recently, the International Association of Genocide Scholars declared that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide.

 In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and (then) Defence Minster Gallant on the basis that there are reasonable grounds that each bear criminal responsibility for a series of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and of intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population.

 “British politicians have failed to defend the Palestinians and champion the rule of law. There is now an opportunity for the Courts to intervene where the British politicians failed” said Ismail Patel, Chair of Friends of Al-Aqsa. “It’s time to end impunity and uphold international law.”

 Patel added: “We have submitted an application to seek that UK law enforcement arrest Isaac Herzog whilst he is in the United Kingdom. Every official, no matter how senior, must be held accountable for attacks on civilians. As the International Criminal Court has made clear on numerous occasions, there can be no immunity or impunity for such grave crimes.”

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 For Further Comments

Ismail Patel, Chair FOA

Tel 07711823524

 i The two statements are:

●       On 12 October 2023, Mr Herzog made a public statement during a press conference that, “We have to understand there’s a State, there’s a State in a way that has built a machine of evil right at our doorstep. It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved. It is absolutely not true. They could have risen up. They could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d’état. Murdering their family members who were in Fatah. There’s a short memory in the world. Israel evacuated Gaza, unilaterally. In order to show that it is willing to make peace, I was a member of that Cabinet. We said to our nation this will be Hong Kong of the Middle East. Well, reality has turned into a tragedy. Therefore I must say that this situation impacts the entire vision of people as to their ability to adhere to the same old rhetoric. We are working, operating militarily according to rules of international law. Unequivocally. But we are at war. We are at war. We are at war. We are defending our homes. We are protecting our homes. That’s the truth. And when a nation protects its home, it fights. And we will fight until we’ll break their backbone.”

●       On 15 October 2023, Mr Herzog made a statement to the Press, that, “…faced with an extremely cruel, inhumane enemy, which we have to uproot, with no mercy... [T]the story is not Israel versus Palestinians, or Judaism versus Islam, God forbid. The story is about human, humanity. Are we with the good, or are we with evil. That’s where humanity should stand, and the battle that we are carrying out now, as a nation, rising up as a lion, is against evil. And we will uproot evil, so that there will be good for the entire region and the world. For the last two years we enabled a huge economic growth in Gaza, for the first time we enabled tens of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza to work in Israel, to break bread, to enjoy life, what happened? There is no justification, it is simply an ISIS-type ideology that wants  to eliminate us off the ground, and therefore they need to be eliminated off the ground.”