Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed an inter-ministerial team and the director of Israel’s International Law Department to prepare a potential legal case against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the International Criminal Court (ICC), Israeli news outlet i24NEWS reported Sunday.
According to the report, the proposed case would focus primarily on allegations concerning Erdogan’s treatment of Kurdish minorities in Turkey, while also examining claims related to the Turkish government’s alleged financial support for Hamas.
The move reportedly follows Erdogan’s announcement that Turkey had approached Interpol in an effort to seek a Red Notice against Netanyahu. The reported Israeli initiative comes amid a broader escalation in diplomatic and legal tensions between the two countries.
Israel could potentially seek to pursue the matter through the ICC, although Israeli officials are reportedly considering using a third party to bring the case. Neither Israel nor Turkey is a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, creating significant questions over the court’s jurisdiction.
Sources cited by i24NEWS said the Israeli government may not ultimately file the case. Instead, the preparation of a legal dossier could be intended as leverage and a deterrent against further moves by Ankara.
Neither Netanyahu nor officials from Israel’s Justice Ministry commented on the reported legal initiative.
The development follows increasingly hostile exchanges between Netanyahu and Erdogan. During his speech to the UN General Assembly on September 24, Netanyahu sharply criticized the Turkish president, while Erdogan has repeatedly condemned Israel’s military actions in Gaza and called for greater international pressure on Israel.
No ICC case against Erdogan has been formally reported as filed at this stage.
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