Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday ordered the destruction of a Palestinian Bedouin village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a move that he said was a response to the International Criminal Court (ICC) seeking an arrest warrant for him.
Middle East Eye first reported on Monday that the office of the prosecutor at the ICC had filed an arrest warrant for Smotrich, who also holds a position in the Israeli Defense Ministry that gives him the power to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law.
According to MEE, the charges against Smotrich include forced displacement as a crime against humanity and a war crime, the transfer of Israel’s own population as a war crime, and persecution and apartheid as crimes against humanity.
The Israeli minister said on Monday that the warrant is a “declaration of war” and accused the court of being “antisemitic.” In 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. It also issued warrants for three Hamas leaders, but they have all been killed by the IDF.
“As a sovereign and independent state, we will not accept hypocritical dictates from biased bodies that regularly stand against the State of Israel, against our biblical, historical, and legal rights in our homeland, and against our right and duty to self-defense and security,” Smotrich said at a press conference.
According to The Times of Israel, the Israeli minister announced that he was ordering the demolition of the Khan al-Ahmar, a Bedouin village east of Jerusalem in the West Bank that’s home to about 150 Palestinians. Israel has been looking to destroy the village for years, but has held off as several international bodies have said that it would be a violation of international law.
Smotrich has said repeatedly that the idea of his settlement expansions in the West Bank is to “kill a Palestinian state” and has also been explicit in his desire for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the establishment of Jewish settlements there.
