Day 414 - ICC warrants a litmus test for nations' Israel support

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

In a speech today in Istanbul, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan praised the “courageous decision” of the International Criminal Court to seek the arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant. The ICC issued the warrants against the Israeli leaders and Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif on Thursday on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza conflict. We discuss how this as a new line in the sand for Israel-supporting countries.

Yesterday, new Defense Minister Israel Katz announced an end to administrative detention orders for West Bank settlers. Almost on the heels of this announcement, several dozen Jewish extremists in Hebron for an annual pilgrimage tried to attack the head of the IDF Central Command Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth. Five were arrested. Horovitz weighs in on this announcement and other unsettling news regarding settlers this week.

In a highly unusual move, the State Prosecutor’s Office on Friday published a rebuttal to allegations that it has been selectively enforcing the law concerning leaked intelligence information with the grave charges it has brought against Eli Feldstein, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and an unnamed IDF reservist, in relation to the leak of a stolen, classified document to German newspaper Bild. A second PMO spokesman, Jonathan Urich, was questioned by the Israel Police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit for a second time on Wednesday as part of the probe. Horovitz discusses the prosecutor's unusual move to publish a Q&A on the case and raises other outstanding questions surrounding it.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

UK indicates it could arrest Netanyahu on ICC warrant, as Hungary invites him to visit

Analysts warn ICC arrest warrants could pave way to future arms embargoes on Israel

Defense minister declares end to administrative detention against West Bank settlers

Several dozen Jewish extremists in Hebron try to attack IDF’s top West Bank commander

Troops smuggled settler leader into Gaza to survey settlement options – report

State prosecution posts rare rebuttal of ‘misinformation’ relating to PMO intel leak case

Report: Netanyahu adviser Urich questioned for second time in document leak case

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IMAGE: Undated photo of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands. (Oliver de la Haye/iStock)

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