Sweden supports ICC's arrest warrant against Israel's Netanyahu

By Atila Altuntas

STOCKHOLM (AA) - Sweden supports the International Criminal Court's (ICC) arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the country's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Tuesday.

In a press conference, Kristersson mentioned that he would meet with the leaders of NATO countries, including Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Poland, for a two-day working session in Sweden.

In response to Anadolu's question about whether Netanyahu would be arrested if he came to Sweden, Kristersson said: "We support the court’s work, we are on the side of the court, but I do not interfere with the concrete decisions."

On Thursday, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel has killed more than 44,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, and caused widespread destruction and conditions of famine across the enclave.

- Call for Chinese ship in Baltic Sea

Kristersson also commented on the incident involving the Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3, which is suspected of being involved in the damage of undersea telecommunications cables connecting Finland, Germany, Sweden, and Lithuania in the Baltic Sea.

"We want the Chinese ship to move towards Swedish waters,” he said.

Kristersson emphasized that this would allow easy cooperation to uncover what is happening in the region.

On Nov. 18, a fault was detected at 10 am local time in a telecommunications cable between Lithuania and Sweden, operated by the telecommunications company Telia.

Audrius Stasiulaitis, Telia’s spokesman in Lithuania, confirmed to CNN that the issue was due to physical damage to the fiber optic cable.

Finnish company Cinia, which operates telecommunications services and is majority-owned by the state, also reported a system malfunction and disruption of services on Nov. 19 due to a break in the C-Lion1 undersea cable between Finland and Germany.

News reports suggested that the Chinese-flagged Yi Peng 3 bulk carrier was near the cable locations at both times when the damage occurred.