UK drops last government’s plan to challenge Netanyahu arrest warrant

Ahead of the UK’s announcement, media outlets in Israel quoted a senior official as saying such a UK decision not to make a submission would be “fundamentally wrong”, adding that it “distorts justice and truth, and violates the right of all democracies to fight terrorism”.

Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s chief executive, welcomed the UK’s decision, calling the previous government’s plan “totally misguided”.

“Instead of trying to thwart the ICC’s much-needed Palestine investigation, the UK should be backing efforts to bring all perpetrators of war crimes and possible genocide to justice.”

The war in Gaza has proved to be politically tricky for Labour, with its stance upsetting many of its traditional supporters, particularly in the Muslim community.

In the recent general election, shadow minister Jonathan Ashworth lost his Leicester South seat to a strongly pro-Gaza candidate, while other senior party figures including Wes Streeting and Jess Phillips saw their majorities slashed.

Last week the government announced it was restoring funding to Unrwa, the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees.

The UK had previously halted donations after Israel alleged 12 Unrwa staff were involved in the October 2023 attacks by Hamas.

An internal UN investigation into allegations related to that attack is ongoing.

But a separate UN review, published in April, found Israel had not provided evidence for its claims hundreds of Unrwa staff were members of terror groups.