ISRAELI prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has flown to the US through the airspace of various European countries, despite an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for the leader.
In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister and his former defence secretary Yoav Gallant.
The warrants are for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, which the court said have been committed from at least October 8, 2023 until at least May 20, 2024.
The ICC said it had found that the alleged crimes against humanity were part of a "widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza".
The warrant mandates that ICC members have a legal obligation to arrest Netanyahu if he enters their sovereign territory. While airspace is not specifically mentioned in the court's agreement, experts in international law have said the law should be interpreted to include a country's defined airspace as part of their territory.
Sergey Vasiliev, an associate professor at the faculty of law at the University of Amsterdam, previously explained to the Middle East Eye that: "If France, Italy and Greece did not wish to put themselves in a situation where they would have to arrest Netanyahu, (potentially at the cost of aerial safety), they could avoid doing so by withholding authorisation to use their airspace and preventing the overflight.
“Anything else falls short of good faith interpretation, in my view, and does not do justice to the three states' cooperation obligations vis-a-vis the ICC."
A previous visit in 2025 saw the Israeli prime minister take an altered route that was two hours longer than the standard flight path. This saw his plane avoid French airspace and fly directly over the Strait of Gibraltar, skirting the edge of Greece's airspace and flying only a short distance through Italian airspace.
The Israeli leader is due to attend the funeral of Republican senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch supporter of continued US financial and military aid to the country, with a meeting also expected with president Donald Trump on Tuesday to discuss the Iran war.
The meeting – the pair's first since a pre-war visit in February – comes days after New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani called on federal authorities to execute the ICC's arrest warrant if Netanyahu set foot in America, saying that his devolved city government does not have the power to do so if he visits.
“I call on the federal government to join the international criminal court and to execute both this warrant as well as any warrant the international criminal court holds,” Mamdani told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday, July 22.
He is, however, expected not to face any sanctions from president Trump, despite fluctuations in the pair's relations in recent weeks as the war in Iran continues with both Israel and the US having unclear goals and visions of how they intend to end it.
It has been reported that in June, Trump "shouted and cursed" at the Israeli prime minister when he threatened to resume airstrikes on Lebanon, which played a part in the resumption of full-scale airstrikes following a previous, thinly-veiled, ceasefire.
“You’re fucking crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this," he reportedly said.
In a statement ahead of his flight, Netanyahu said: "We will discuss all the issues on the agenda, first and foremost, Iran. Naturally, our goal is to safeguard our security and also to expand the circle of peace around us."
He went on to praise Trump, saying: "This will be the eighth meeting between the two leaders since Trump's election for a second term, more than any other international leader. This is a great privilege, but it is also a great responsibility."
His flight departed from the Nevatim Air Base in Israel, crossing several European countries who are long-standing signatories of the ICC. None of these countries – France, Italy and Greece – acted in accordance with the statues set out in the Rome Statute, a key agreement on international law that recognises the authority of the ICC to prosecute crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, previously slammed several European countries for allowing Netanyahu to use their airspace during a visit to the US in 2025.
“Italian, French and Greek citizens deserve to know that every political action violating the int’l legal order, weakens and endangers all of them. And all of us,” Albanese wrote on X/Twitter.
Albanese was responding to a post by human rights lawyer Craig Mokhiber, who had said the previous day that the countries had “breached their legal obligations under the treaty [Rome Statute], have declared their disdain for the victims of genocide, and have demonstrated their contempt for the rule of law”.
While most European countries, including France, Italy and Greece, are signatories of the Rome Statute, the US is not, and secretary of state Marco Rubio has previously written in favour of dismantling the ICC through the UN.
The US president is also set to meet with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has also flown to Washington DC. He has recently spoken about Russian assistance of Iran in its war against the US, with the pair likely to discuss this as Zelenskyy lobbies the US for continued military and financial support.
