Condemning the International Criminal Court (ICC), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared the court’s arrest warrant against him to the infamous Dreyfus trial of 1894. The Dreyfus Trial, which began in 1894, involved a Jewish French army officer falsely accused of treason. Fabricated evidence.
The ICC move charges Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant with war crimes in the ongoing Gaza conflict, a decision Netanyahu described as “anti-Semitic” and reflective of the “modern-day Dreyfus trial.”
Netanyahu declared, referring to the wrongful conviction of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish French army officer, “The anti-Semitism decision of the International Criminal Court is the equivalent of a modern Dreyfus trial – and it will end the same way.” A historical case that exposed deep anti-Semitism in late 19th century France.
The Dreyfus affair was one of the most controversial legal scandals of 19th-century France, marked by anti-Semitism and judicial corruption. French Jewish army captain Alfred Dreyfus was wrongly convicted of treason in 1894 on the basis of fabricated evidence. Stripped of his rank in a humiliating public ceremony and exiled to Devil’s Island, the former penal colony of French Guiana, Dreyfus’ plight became a symbol of systemic injustice and anti-Semitism.
French authorities accused Dreyfus of leaking military secrets based on a fragment of his handwriting which bore little resemblance to theirs. The trial, largely motivated by anti-Semitism, resulted in the conviction of another officer, Ferdinand Esterházy, despite evidence pointing to him as the true culprit. The case divided France, with leading intellectuals such as Émile Zola denouncing the injustice in his famous open letter, J’accuse…!
The ICC has issued warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza following Hamas’s brutal October 7 attacks on Israel. These attacks killed more than 1,400 Israelis and abducted hundreds, prompting a massive Israeli military response, resulting in massive loss of life and destruction in Gaza. This warrant is the first time an Israeli head of state has been targeted by a court.
Netanyahu dismissed the ICC’s actions accusing Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan of corruption as “absurd and false” and alleged that the decision was an attempt to divert attention from sexual assault allegations against Khan – allegations which Khan has denied. Have denied. Israeli President Isaac Herzog described the ICC’s move as a “dark day for justice”, while Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the court had “lost all legitimacy.”
However, human rights group B’Tselem welcomed the ICC’s actions, and urged international enforcement of the warrant. The group called the warrant “an important step toward holding leaders responsible for crimes committed in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict to account.”
