TEHRAN - Friedrich Merz, who is expected to be Germany’s next chancellor, told reporters on Monday that he would make sure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can visit Germany despite an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

“In the event that he [Netanyahu] plans to visit Germany, I have promised myself that we will find a way to ensure that he can visit Germany and leave again without being arrested,” Merz said from Berlin.

Germany says it has been a strong backer of the ICC. After the ICC’s decision against Netanyahu and his war minister Yoav Gallant in November, a German government spokesperson said, “The federal government was involved in the drafting of the ICC statute and is one of the ICC’s biggest supporters. This position is also a result of German history.”

To the shock of the international community, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government was the biggest supporter of the Netanyahu regime in its 16-month barbaric acts in Gaza. It has also been the second biggest supplier of deadly arms to Israel after the United States. However, it seems that Merz, still not forming a government, wants to present himself as a stronger supporter of Israel.

As a member state of the court, Germany is required to detain suspects facing arrest warrants if they set foot on their soil, but the incoming Marz government is sending signals that it is joining certain countries, including the United States, which are defying international order.

Viktor Orban was the first European leader who invited Netanyahu to visit Hungary in a show of disdain for the ICC ruling. Now, Merz is following in the footsteps of Orban, whose policies are not in conformity with the European Union.

Merz said, “I think it’s a really absurd idea that an Israeli prime minister can’t visit the Federal Republic of Germany. He will be able to visit Germany.” Contrary to Merz’s claim, it is absurd to invite a war criminal to Germany as the most important member of the EU and as a country rightly or wrongly considered the most law-abiding nation.

Netanyahu is already buoyed that he has been invited to make a trip to Germany as Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that Merz had invited the prime minister “to make an official visit to Germany, in overt defiance of the scandalous International Criminal Court decision to label the Prime Minister a war criminal”.

Before Merz welcomed Netanyahu’s possible future visit to Germany, the Biden administration and hawks in the American Congress had demonized the ICC to the extent that Senator Tom Cotton had threatened military action against the ICC and insulted its chief prosecutor Karim Khan. Cotton said, “The ICC is a kangaroo court and Karim Khan is a deranged fanatic.”

The statement by Merz has even irritated the ICC, saying that states have a legal obligation to enforce its decisions. It said, “It is not for states to unilaterally determine the soundness of the court’s legal decisions.”

Merz either has been too busy to notice what degree of crimes Netanyahu and lieutenants have been doing in Gaza or he does not care about the tragedies that the Gazans have gone through.

It is not necessary to mention the horrific crimes that Israel committed in Gaza. They are obvious to the world. It is just enough to notice that thousands of Palestinians, mostly women and children, are still missing under the rubble. In its November ruling, the ICC said there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Gallant and Netanyahu “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”

Naturally, Merz like other Germans must repent what Germany did against Jews during World War II which is famous as the Holocaust. Merz must be reminded that Israel committed another Holocaust against the Palestinians in the third decade of the 21st century.

By inviting Netanyahu to Germany, Merz is emboldening the Israeli war criminals, violating the ICC statute, and presenting himself as subservient to the butcher of Gaza.