ARREST warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) raise pressure on Israel’s allies to force a halt to its brutal war on Gaza.

Israel does not recognise the ICC, unlike the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where it has been forced to defend its conduct in the face of detailed submissions from South Africa that it is guilty of genocide. The latter is a UN court which tries states: the ICC a treaty-based court which tries individuals.

The ICC warrants can’t touch Israel’s leaders at home, any more than the earlier warrant issued for Russian leader Vladimir Putin has resulted in his arrest. Nor are they likely to cause Netanyahu any trouble on his periodic trips to browbeat and beg from the US Congress, since Washington doesn’t recognise the ICC either. But they make it harder for Israel’s European sponsors — including the British government — to avoid the questions raised by our close alliance with an apartheid state accused, by an increasing range of bodies and countries worldwide, of war crimes, and will make it more difficult for Netanyahu and Gallant to travel where they please.