NEW YORK – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a wanted war criminal subject to an active arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC), flew over the airspace of multiple ICC member states en route to New York, raising severe concerns regarding international law and state accountability.
According to flight-tracking data monitored on Thursday, the Israeli regime’s premier traversed the airspace of Greece, Italy, France, and Canada before crossing the Atlantic. The incident has reignited debates over the obligations of Rome Statute member states when a suspect wanted for heinous crimes travels through their territory.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli war minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024. The court’s judges determined there were reasonable grounds to believe the Israeli leaders bear criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity, notably including the use of starvation as a method of warfare against the besieged Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip.
Under the Rome Statute, member states are legally bound to cooperate with the ICC, which includes the obligation to arrest and surrender suspects who enter their jurisdiction or territory. However, the enforcement of these obligations—particularly concerning sovereign airspace—has become a flashpoint for legal and political manoeuvring.
Canada’s Foreign Minister, Anita Anand, confirmed she had directed officials to examine Netanyahu’s planned route. While Anand reaffirmed Canada’s support for international courts and accountability for crimes against humanity, she notably stopped short of directly acknowledging Netanyahu as a war criminal or confirming any immediate action to intercept the flight.
Meanwhile, France has controversially argued that it is not legally compelled to prevent Netanyahu’s aircraft from utilising its airspace. This interpretation has been strongly challenged by international law experts. UN Special Rapporteur Ben Saul and other legal scholars have pointed out that states exercise full sovereignty over their airspace and therefore possess obligations under international treaties to prevent wanted fugitives from utilising their jurisdictional domains.
This is not the first instance of Netanyahu brazenly violating the spirit of the ICC warrant by travelling through member states. France previously authorised his aircraft to cross its airspace in December 2025, as well as in February and July of 2026. Greece, Italy, and Canada have also frequently appeared on his flight paths to the United States.
The precedent of Hungary also looms large over this issue. In April 2025, Hungary hosted Netanyahu, leading ICC judges to find that Budapest had failed to comply with its obligations to the court. The matter was referred to the Assembly of States Parties, prompting Hungary to briefly initiate a withdrawal from the ICC before a new government reversed the decision.
As Netanyahu arrived in the United States—a non-member state of the ICC—calls for accountability have extended to the local level. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently addressed the city’s limitations in enforcing the international warrant.
“My administration has reviewed every avenue available under applicable law to determine whether New York City could execute the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant if Benjamin Netanyahu came here,” Mamdani stated in July.
Conceding that the city lacks independent legal authority to enforce the warrant, Mamdani issued a direct challenge to the US federal government: “The federal government, however, does, and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant.”
The international community and human rights advocates continue to demand that all nations uphold the Rome Statute and end the impunity enjoyed by the Israeli occupation regime for its ongoing atrocities in Palestine.
Reference: PressTv