Netanyahu Detours to Avoid ICC Arrest Warrant

Flight‑tracking data show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government plane took a detour to avoid flying over France and Spain — both parties to the Rome Statute — adding roughly an hour to the trip, a move Israeli officials said was meant to reduce the risk of enforcement of an ICC arrest warrant issued in November 2024. Netanyahu spoke at the U.N. General Assembly in New York amid mounting international criticism of Israel’s Gaza campaign and a recent wave of Western recognitions of Palestinian statehood, and his address was expected to be combative as his team ran a high‑profile “Remember October 7” communications campaign. On the sidelines he was due to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, who publicly warned he would not allow Israeli annexation of the West Bank and — according to reports — planned to discuss Iran’s missile and nuclear programs with Netanyahu. U.S. and Israeli officials cited satellite imagery they say shows reconstruction at Iran’s Parchin and Shahroud missile sites that could support faster solid‑fuel missile capabilities, a development both leaders said they would address. The episode intensified scrutiny of how ICC arrest warrants affect travel for sitting heads of state.