The Conservatives would not support a decision to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he came to the UK, shadow housing secretary Kevin Hollinrake has said.
It comes after Downing Street indicated the Israeli prime minister faces arrest if he enters Britain after an international arrest warrant was issued for him.
Number 10 refused to explicitly comment on “hypotheticals”, but said the UK would follow its “legal obligations”.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a warrant for Mr Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Asked on the Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme on Sky News that if Sir Keir Starmer obeyed the International Criminal Court ruling, would he support a decision to arrest the Israeli prime minister if he came to London, Mr Hollinrake said: “No, no, I wouldn’t.
“For a number of reasons. Israel is not a signatory to the Rome statute on this, Palestine is not a recognised state.
“We think this is the wrong move diplomatically as well as legally, so no, we wouldn’t. We think Labour should, Keir Starmer should definitely say that he’s not going to participate in the ICC rulings.”
Number 10 previously said the domestic process linked to ICC arrest warrants has never been used to date by the UK because no-one wanted by the international court had visited the country.
The ICC also issued a warrant for Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’s armed wing, over the October 7 2023 attacks that triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
A domestic court process would be required before Mr Netanyahu faced arrest if he set foot in the UK.
The ICC said there are “reasonable grounds to believe” Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant were responsible for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane acts”.
The court’s pre-trial chamber also found “reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant each bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population”.
The impact of the warrants is likely to be limited since Israel and its major ally, the US, are not members of the ICC.
