Israel (MNN) — The International Criminal Court (ICC) is attempting to put Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the dock alongside Hamas leaders like Yahya Sinwar.
The ICC issued tandem arrest warrants on Monday for both Netanyahu and Sinwar. Arrest warrants were also issued for Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as well as Hamas leaders Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh.
The move was more symbolic than anything since the ICC has very little enforcement power.
However, the United Kingdom, Italy, and the United States strongly condemned the ICC’s decision. US President Joe Biden called the prosecutor’s arrest warrant for Israeli officials “outrageous.”
Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA (VOM) explains, “The issuing of arrest warrants for both of these together suggests an equivalency that doesn’t exist.
“Saying the [prime minister] of the State of Israel who responded to an attack on his people is the same as the terrorists who instigated that attack undermines confidence in the International Criminal Court that they would sort of put those two things together because they’re not the same.”
(Photo courtesy of Shutterstock)
Despite international bodies stirring tensions in the Holy Land, Arab and Israeli Christian pastors present a different picture: Focus on the Gospel mission.
Nettleton says, “Pastors on both sides of this conflict were asking the same prayer: ‘Lord, we want to represent you well in the midst of conflict, in the midst of now even war and death around us and bloodshed. We want to represent Jesus to the people who are going through this very difficult time. Pray for us to be able to do that.’”
Please pray alongside these pastors that the Gospel will be elevated above the noise in the region, and for unity in the Church.
Pray ultimately for Christ’s justice and peace, that evil would be defeated and God’s name be glorified.
Header photo courtesy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Photo courtesy of IDF Spokesperson’s Unit/Wikimedia Commons: https://tinyurl.com/2s4hb6aw)
