(NewsNation) — Benjamin Netanyahu’s former chief of staff says the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister has “no basis in reality.”
The world’s top war crimes court issued arrest warrants in November of 2024 for Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the year-plus war in Gaza. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order sanctioning the ICC for targeting the U.S. and its allies.
The warrants said there was reason to believe Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and have intentionally targeted civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza, charges Israeli officials deny.
“The idea that Israel … that anyone in Israel … is committing crimes against humanity is really outlandish and without any basis in reality,” said George Birnbaum, an American consultant and former chief of staff to Netanyahu.
ICC judges said the lack of food, water, electricity, fuel and specific medical supplies created conditions “calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population in Gaza,” including the deaths of children due to malnutrition and dehydration. They also found that by preventing hospital supplies and medicine from getting into Gaza, doctors were forced to operate, including performing amputations, without anesthesia or with unsafe means of sedation, which led to “great suffering.”
Israel says it has begun preparations for the departure of Palestinians from Gaza despite widespread international rejection of Trump’s plan to empty the war-devastated territory of its population. There were no immediate signs of such preparations on the ground Thursday.
In response to Trump’s idea, Birnbaum said that peace in the region “with many Arab neighbors” is possible, even “without a solution to the Palestinian issues.”
“(Trump) has already proven in his first term as president that he can change the paradigm in the Middle East,” said Birnbaum. “Certainly, this (removing Palestinians from Gaza) would go a long way in a complete paradigm shift in the Middle East.”
Despite the death and destruction, Palestinians remain committed to returning to Gaza.
Palestinians will mark this year the 77th anniversary of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel, an event that is at the core of their ongoing national struggle.
Palestinians refer to their 1948 expulsion as the “Nakba,” Arabic for catastrophe. Some 700,000 Palestinians — a majority of the prewar population — fled or were driven from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War that followed Israel’s establishment.
Birnbaum said Palestinians can’t have it “both ways.”
“On the one hand, they claim they’re refugees, and by definition, if you’re a refugee, you’re not in your home,” he said. “They can’t have it both ways. They can’t claim to be refugees and also claim that Gaza is their homeland. They have to choose one or the other.”
In Gaza, the refugees and their descendants of the 1948 expulsion make up around three-quarters of the population.
Birnbaum said the international community should “incentivize” Palestinians to “find a different life” outside of Gaza.