TEHRAN: The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards described the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a former defence minister as the “end and political death” of Israel, in a speech.
“This means the end and political death of the Zionist regime, a regime that today lives in absolute political isolation in the world and its officials can no longer travel to other countries,” Revolutionary Guards chief General Hossein Salami said in the speech aired on state TV.
In the first official reaction by Iran, Salami called the ICC warrant “a welcome move” and a “great victory for the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements,” both supported by the Islamic republic.
Israeli authorities will stop holding Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank under administrative detention, or incarceration without trial, the defence ministry has announced.
The practice, used against Palestinians and Israelis who may be deemed security threats, “is inappropriate” for Israel to employ against settlers who “face severe Palestinian terror threats and unjustified international sanctions”, said Defence Minister Israel Katz in a statement.
He added that prosecution or “other preventive measures” would be used to deal with criminal acts in the West Bank.
