Labour has just dropped the government’s challenge to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The move signified the new government is moving away from the Conservatives’ approach towards Israel and its conflict in Gaza.
Here’s what you need to know.
What is the arrest warrant for Netanyahu?
In May, the ICC announced it was seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leaders.
It wants to charge them with war crimes and crimes against humanity in relation to Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel, and the subsequent war Israel has waged in Gaza.
Prosecutor Karim Khan KC applied for these warrants to be issued, saying it would “prove, intangible, that the lives of all human beings have equal value”.
ICC judges are still deciding whether there are grounds for such warrants, but if they were to pass, it would put international figurehead Netanyahu on the same level as Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Putin, who has an arrest warrant out against him over his invasion of Ukraine, cannot travel to countries which are part of the ICC without risking arrest.
Netanyahu reacted at the time saying he rejected it “with disgust”.
What has Labour changed about the UK’s approach?
When Rishi Sunak was in No.10, the UK had considered challenging the ICC’s right to issue arrest warrant to Netanyahu as a signatory of the court.
The previous government had said the ICC’s actions were “not helpful in relation to reaching a pause in the fighting, getting hostages out or getting humanitarian aid in”.
The Tories had not entered a formal challenge before the general election, though.
The ICC gave the government until July 12 to file a legal challenge, which was extended to today, July 26.
Now Labour are in power, a No.10 spokesperson said the government has let this deadline pass as it will not be pursuing this route with the ICC.
What does this tell us about Labour’s attitude towards the crisis in the Middle East?
The spokesperson said this is neither an objection nor an endorsement of the ICC case.
“The government believes strongly in the rule of law and separation of powers,” the spokesperson said.
But the move comes after Starmer appointed Richard Hermer as attorney general after he was elected.
As a top lawyer who was not elected to parliament, Hermer was granted a life peerage so he could sit in cabinet.
Most significantly, Hermer was among many Jewish lawyers who warned that Israel’s retaliation to the October 7 attack from Hamas should be within the confines of international law.
Foreign secretary David Lammy also chose to lift the suspension on funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) last week.
The last government paused its fundings for the agency in January, over allegations 12 agency staff were involved in the Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7.
Lammy said the UK has now been “reassured” by an independent review that UNRWA is “ensuring they meet the highest standards of neutrality and strengthening its procedures, including on vetting”.
