Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday that he had been informed that the International Criminal Court in The Hague had requested an arrest warrant against him.
He argued that attempts to impose a policy of “security suicide” through sanctions and arrest warrants “will not succeed.”
He said that the International Criminal Court's arrest warrants against Israeli officials amounted to a declaration of war, adding: "They do not intimidate me, and I am prepared to pay the price to serve my people."
Smotrich attacked the Palestinian Authority, saying it “started the war and will face war.”
In this context, Smotrich issued an order to evacuate the Palestinian community of Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem, after learning that a secret request had been submitted to issue an arrest warrant against him by the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan.
The Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted Smotrich, who is also a minister in the Ministry of Defense, as saying that he signed the order to evacuate Khan al-Ahmar after learning that a secret request had been submitted to issue an international arrest warrant against him by Khan, without specifying the date of the request.
On Monday, the British website Middle East Eye reported that a request had been submitted to the court to issue a secret arrest warrant against Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, on charges of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Attacking European countries, Smotrich said they “have not shown genuine love for Zionism” and accused them of “hypocrisy and double standards,” according to his expressions.
In contrast, the head of Khan al-Ahmar, Eid al-Jahalin, warned that Israel’s decision to displace the residents of the community is “very serious” and could be implemented within hours.
He said that Smotrich's decision to evacuate the community "constitutes a dangerous step," stressing that the residents face "an uncertain fate."
Al-Jahalin explained that the seriousness of the decision “is not only related to the village of Khan al-Ahmar,” noting that the community is located in a strategic area east of Jerusalem, and that displacing its residents “means completing the connection between the Israeli settlements and closing off Jerusalem from its eastern side.”
He added: “If this village is uprooted, the West Bank will be cut into two parts, north and south, and this is the essence of the Israeli settlement project known as Greater Jerusalem.”
The Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar is home to about 200 Palestinians, living in tin houses and tents. Over the years, they have been subjected to Israeli attempts to displace them in favor of a large settlement project called E1 by Israel.
The encampment is surrounded by Israeli settlements and is located within the lands targeted by Tel Aviv to implement the “E1” project, which includes the construction of more than 3,500 settlement units, in order to link the “Ma’ale Adumim” settlement with the city of West Jerusalem, isolate the city from its surroundings, and divide the West Bank into two parts.
Years ago, the Israeli Supreme Court (the highest judicial body) gave the green light for the demolition and evacuation of the Khan al-Ahmar community, as a prelude to implementing the “E1” settlement project.
