JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Germany’s likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz told Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu that he would invite him to Germany in defiance of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Israeli prime minister’s office said on Monday.
In a phone call after Merz’s conservative party won most votes in a national election on Sunday, Netanyahu congratulated the German, said the Israeli’s office.
It added that Merz told Netanyahu he would invite him to Germany “in defiance of the scandalous International Criminal Court decision to label the Prime Minister a war criminal”.
A spokesperson for Merz’s conservative CDU party confirmed the two had spoken by phone after the election but declined to comment on the substance of the conversation.
Germans feel a special responsibility towards Israel due to the legacy of the Holocaust, and Merz has made clear he is a strong ally.
However, Germany is also a signatory of the ICC.
ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, former Israeli defence chief Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri last November for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza conflict.
Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies war crimes.
(Reporting by James Mackenzie and Andreas Rinke; Writing by Madeline Chambers, editing by Kirsti Knolle and Miranda Murray)
