Israel’s Ambassador to the US, Michael Herzog, on Thursday denounced the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. “Today's announcement by the International Criminal Court of arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant (as well as for the body of Hamas arch-terrorist Mohamed Deif…) makes a mockery of the International Criminal Court,” said Herzog. “The world has turned on its head. A democracy is being brutally attacked by a vicious US-designated terror organization, and a proxy of Iran, who uses its own people as human shields. Yet when this democracy exercises its legitimate right to self defense, it is targeted once again - this time by the international ‘justice’ system, based on false allegations and a fundamentally flawed process,” he added. “This decision sends a chilling message to all those in the free world who are confronted by violent extremism. Make no mistake: the ICC has just rewarded terrorism,” concluded the Ambassador. Earlier on Thursday, Netanyahu published a statement in English condemning the International Criminal Court's decision. "The antisemitic decision of the international court in The Hague is a modern Dreyfus trial, and it will end the same way. One hundred and thirty years ago, the French Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus was falsely accused of treason by a biased French court. In response to these false accusations, the great French writer Émile Zola wrote his monumental essay, J’Accuse. He accused the French court of antisemitic lies against an innocent officer, who was later exonerated of all guilt,” he said. "Now, an international court in The Hague, also headed by a French judge, is repeating this outrageous offense. It is falsely accusing me, the democratically elected prime minister of the State of Israel and Israel’s former defense minister Yoav Gallant, of deliberately targeting civilians, this when we do everything in our power to avoid civilian casualties," Netanyahu stated. He continued, "We issue millions of text messages, phone calls, leaflets to the citizens of Gaza to get them out of harm's way – while the Hamas terrorists do everything in their power to keep them in harm’s way, including shooting them, using them as human shields.” "The court in The Hague accuses us of a deliberate policy of starvation. This, when we have supplied Gaza with 700,000 tons of food to feed the people of Gaza. That’s 3,200 calories for every man, woman, and child in Gaza. And these supplies are routinely looted by Hamas terrorists, who deprive their people of much-needed food.” Related articles: US imposes sanctions on ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan Nearly 80 countries support ICC following Trump’s sanctions Trump signs executive order imposing sanctions on ICC Trump to sign sanctions against ICC "Yet just in the last few weeks, Israel facilitated the vaccination of 97 percent of the people of Gaza against polio. This doesn’t prevent the court from accusing us of genocide.” The Prime Minister wondered: "What in God’s name are they talking about in The Hague? The truth is simple. No war is more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza after Hamas attacked us unprovoked, launching the worst massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust."