Netanyahu avoided European airspace on his way to the UN to avoid potential arrest

Israeli occupation prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent flight to New York- where he will attend the UN General Assembly on Friday, and will visit Trump on Monday, for the fourth time – took a highly unusual route, avoiding the airspace of certain European countries due to an outstanding International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued against him. This detour, which added significant distance and time to his journey, highlights the escalating international legal and diplomatic tensions tied to Netanyahu’s travel abroad.

Netanyahu avoiding European airspace due to ICC arrest warrants

Although, according to the Times of Israel, France gave permission for Netanyahu’s plane – the Wing of Zion – to fly over its airspace, this route was not taken:

Instead, the plane circumvented the airspace of ICC member states including Ireland, Iceland, and the Netherlands, countries legally obligated to arrest him if he landed or was forced to make an emergency stop at their airports:

Netanyahu flew the length of the Mediterranean Sea, passed through the Strait of Gibraltar, and briefly flew over Greece and Italy. This was a detour of several hundred miles.

The ICC had issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024 for war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Gaza where, according to conservative estimates, more than 65,000 Palestinians have already been killed and more than 167,000 injured people since October 2023.

ICC members have a legal obligation to arrest him

The travel of Netanyahu despite active ICC arrest warrants remains legally contentious, as the 125 ICC member states are bound under international law to comply with the warrant and arrest him when he enters their territory, yet enforcement has not, as yet, happened. Some countries, have either refused to enforce the warrant or have taken steps to protect Netanyahu from arrest.

In January, Poland’s government announced it would ignore the ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu, and would grant him safe passage during the country’s 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who called the arrest warrants “outrageously brazen” and “cynical”, refused to detain Netanyahu when he visited the country in April 2025, despite an official request sent by the ICC, and announced Hungary’s decision to withdraw from the ICC.

Others, including the UK, have avoided a clear answer as to whether they would fulfill their legal obligation to arrest him if he entered their country.

The debate also extends to the question of immunity. Back in 2024, France argued that “immunities apply” to Netanyahu, as a sitting head of state and that Israel is not a party to the ICC, complicating enforcement. But the ICC Rome Statute states that no individual, regardless of official capacity, is exempt from criminal responsibility, undermining claims of immunity in this context.

Featured image via the Canary