Israel's Bezalel Smotrich says ICC arrest warrant request is 'declaration of war'

Israel's Bezalel Smotrich says ICC arrest warrant request is 'declaration of war' Submitted by Sondos Asem on Tue, 05/19/2026 - 11:38 Finance minister says 'we will fight back with a vengeance' as prosecutors at Hague-based court seek his arrest for crimes against humanity and war crimes Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is surrounded by Israeli settlers at a "resettlement" ceremony of Sa-Nur, south of Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on 19 April 2026 (AFP) Off Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday said the arrest warrant application for him at the International Criminal Court amounts to a “declaration of war” and threatened immediate retaliation against Palestinians . “Last night I was informed that a request for a secret international arrest warrant had been filed against me by the criminal prosecutor of the Anti-Semitic Tribunal in The Hague,” the far-right minister said in a speech reacting to a report by Middle East Eye a day earlier. MEE on Monday reported that the office of the prosecutor of the ICC last month filed a secret arrest warrant application for Smotrich over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.