Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has ordered the eviction of the Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, located in a strategically important part of the occupied West Bank.
Smotrich told journalists on Tuesday that he was responding to reports that the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague had requested an arrest warrant against him. There has been no confirmation of this from the court so far.
The Bedouin settlement is located east of Jerusalem in the E1 area, which divides the West Bank into northern and southern halves. It forms part of the 60% of the West Bank that is under full Israeli control.
Regarding reports of a possible arrest warrant against him, Smotrich told journalists that Israel would "not accept hypocritical dictates from biased institutions that time and again oppose the State of Israel and our biblical, historical and legal rights in our homeland."
Smotrich accused the Palestinian Authority of having lobbied behind the scenes for arrest warrants against leading Israeli politicians. He spoke of a "declaration of war" by the Palestinian Authority, which would have consequences.
During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel conquered the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Today, around 700,000 Israeli settlers live there amidst 3 million Palestinians. The Palestinians claim these territories for their own state, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Under the rules of the ICC, arrest warrants are kept under seal unless there is a judicial order for their publication. In 2024, the court issued arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
