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The ICC has been dealt a harsh blow by one of its founding states, which also prides itself on being the “homeland of human rights.” On Wednesday, France issued a cryptic statement undermining both the authority of this judicial body and the arrest warrant issued six days earlier by its judges against Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the context of the war in Gaza.

A lawyer for the chief defendant in a French mass rape trial on Wednesday, November 27, urged the court to recall his good side after prosecutors demanded lengthy jail terms for the dozens of suspects. The main defendant, Dominique Pelicot, has admitted enlisting dozens of strangers to rape his then-wife while she was drugged and unconscious.

Provisions for immunity from prosecution at the International Criminal Court (ICC) apply to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the French foreign ministry said on Wednesday, November 27. In a statement the ministry reaffirmed its commitment to international justice after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, but also said that the Israeli leader was covered by immunity rules that apply to states which are not a party to the ICC. Israeli is not an ICC member.