Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s hard-line finance minister, said on Tuesday that he had ordered the eviction of Palestinian residents of a West Bank hamlet after learning that the International Criminal Court prosecutor had requested a warrant for his arrest.
The court has not announced any such move against Mr. Smotrich and declined to comment on his claim. Nevertheless, Mr. Smotrich vowed that he would press forward with his aim to make Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank “irreversible.”
“In the face of a declaration of war, we will respond forcefully,” he said in a statement.
Mr. Smotrich said he had been informed that the office of Karim Khan, the I.C.C.’s chief prosecutor, had requested a warrant for his arrest, though he did not specify on what charges. Mr. Smotrich did not respond to questions as to how he knew that prosecutors had requested a warrant for his arrest.
For an I.C.C. arrest warrant to be issued, Mr. Khan’s office must first ask the court’s judges to sign off on the request. Requests for warrants and warrants alike are often kept secret so as to raise the chances of their targets being detained when they travel internationally.
An I.C.C. spokeswoman denied in a written statement that the court had issued any new warrants, but did not address whether prosecutors had asked for one for Mr. Smotrich.
If the warrant is confirmed, Mr. Smotrich would be the third Israeli leader to be subject to arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court, which prosecutes the highest violations of international law including war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity.
The court has already issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Yoav Gallant, the former Israeli defense minister, on charges of war crimes in Gaza. Both men deny the charges and accuse Mr. Khan of bias and conflicts of interest.
Mr. Khan himself is currently on leave over accusations of sexual misconduct toward an employee which surfaced last year, after he requested the warrants against the two Israeli leaders.
Mr. Smotrich threatened on Tuesday to evict the residents of the small Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, east of Jerusalem, whose population has been estimated at roughly 150. Right-wing Israeli leaders have long called to raze the town and expel its residents to make room for the expansion of Jewish settlements in the area.
About half a million Israeli settlers live among roughly three million Palestinians in the West Bank.
Israeli courts have ruled that the hamlet is illegal under Israeli law because it lacks the proper authorization, allowing the demolition to go ahead. The community, which has lived on the territory for decades, argues Israel rarely issues permits for Palestinians but regularly authorizes new housing for Jewish settlers.
Much of the international community, including the European Union, have backed the Bedouins, arguing that the area is crucial for the contiguity of a future Palestinian state. They have also pushed back against what they call “forced transfers” of Palestinians within the West Bank.
Since becoming a minister more than three years ago, Mr. Smotrich has moved to reshape the West Bank. Palestinians hope the territory will become part of an independent Palestinian state, an aspiration that Mr. Smotrich has said he wants to “bury.”
Mr. Smotrich has called for Israeli dominion over the territory without giving its Palestinian residents the right to vote. Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank already live under a two-tier legal system that some human rights groups have compared to apartheid, a charge sharply disputed by Israel.
As part of that vision, Mr. Smotrich has expanded Jewish settlements by advancing new housing and retroactively authorizing Israeli homes which were built illegally. He has also squeezed the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, by depriving it of tax revenues that Israel collects on its behalf.
Aaron Boxerman is a Times reporter covering Israel and Gaza. He is based in Jerusalem.
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