The chair of the Riigikogu's foreign affairs committee, Marko Mihkelson (Reform), called the simultaneous request by Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court prosecutor, to issue arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli leaders extraordinary and startling.

"Unfortunately, this does not contribute to the release of the hostages or the end of the Israeli military operations. Instead, it raises the question of how consistent and selective the chief prosecutor, Khan, is in his demands. When he says, 'no foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader – no one – can act with impunity, and justice cannot be applied indiscriminately, because that would set the stage for the collapse of the entire legal order,' then the question inevitably arises – why hasn't Khan yet issued arrest warrants for the entire fascist Russian leadership? The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Putin, albeit on much narrower grounds than those currently applied to Israeli leaders. Such apparent selectivity unfortunately undermines the credibility of the ICC, which is certainly not in the interest of small countries like Estonia," Mihkelson said.

Mihklelson said that the terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, which aimed to destroy the State of Israel and killed more than 1,200 people in the most horrific way, inevitably led to a strong Israeli response.

"The war provoked and initiated by Hamas in the densely populated Gaza Strip, where terrorists use civilians and infrastructure as a shield, has resulted in numerous civilian casualties. Understandably, no war crime should go unpunished and it is up to the ICC judges to assess the causes and nature of the ongoing war in making their decisions," Mihkelson said.

Former Foreign Minister and current Riigikogu foreign affairs committee member, Urmas Reinsalu (Isamaa), also criticized the ICC request.

"The ICC makes its decisions independently. But I think it is inappropriate to put the leaders of Israel, a democratic country, next to the leaders of a terrorist organization in such a request. I don't think that's appropriate. A separate question is whether these Israeli leaders fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), a matter on which different countries have different opinions. Israel is not a member state of the ICC, and there are also different views on whether Palestine is recognized as a state," Reinsalu said.

"I agree with the leaders of those countries who say that this does nothing to help find a peaceful solution," he added.

"In a situation where the goal of Hamas leaders in that October attack was to attack civilians, Israel certainly does not have the goal of attacking civilians," Reinsalu said.

Henn Põlluaas (EKRE), vice-chairman of the foreign affairs committee, called the ICC request inappropriate.

"After all, what is happening in Israel and Gaza today is a very clear consequence of the Hamas terrorist attack, when people were killed, raped and taken hostage in a brutal and most inhumane way. Every country must have the right to defend itself and to retaliate. It is a totally inappropriate request to put a head of state and a terrorist organization on the same level," Põlluaas said.

"Undoubtedly, Israel tries to avoid civilian casualties as much as possible, but we see how Hamas behaves. They use civilians as human shields, they have built their bunkers and tunnels under hospitals and other public buildings. To a large extent, these human casualties are the result of Hamas' own actions," he said.

Raimond Kaljulaid, a Social Democrat member of the Riigikogu defense committee, emphasized that Estonia's most important and closest allies have given a very negative assessment of this decision and do not consider it right in any way to equate Israel's democratic and legitimate government with the terrorist organization Hamas and its leaders.

"However, they are two different things. The way in which the sides in the war between Hamas and Israel fight is also very different. In the case of Hamas, it is quite clear that their aim has been precisely to attack Israeli civilians, and to do so in the worst possible way. There is certainly no dividing line between them," Kaljulaid said.

"At this stage, I do not know whether the decision of the International Criminal Court is entirely justified or whether it is intended to send a certain political signal," he said.

Lauri Laats, the leader of the Center Party faction, also finds the request for an arrest warrant surprising.

"It is interesting that the democratically elected leader of Israel and the leader of the terrorist organization Hamas are being lumped together. This is certainly a precedent. And as many state representatives have expressed, they do not support such an approach," Laats said.

Laats also fails to understand what the broader purpose of this action could be. "Certainly, such a request at this stage does not help us resolve this situation. It raises many questions," he said.

Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200) said that the ICC is an independent organization and that Estonia is now discussing the arrest warrant both at the government level and with its allies.

"The International Criminal Court has been a very important organization for us in terms of ensuring justice around the world and, as you know, the ICC has also issued arrest warrants, for example, for Russian President Vladimir Putin. We have been very clear that the ICC is independent and must be independent in its activities. This latest decision of the ICC is new for us and we will certainly analyze it very carefully," he said.

At the same time, Tsahkna emphasized that Israel and Hamas, which has been declared a terrorist organization, cannot be lumped together.

ERR asked Tsahkna if, as foreign minister, he supports the ICC request.

"The ICC is independent. We are now discussing with the European Union and our allies what these positions are. This news has just reached us," he said.

The International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. The ICC also seeks arrest warrants for Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and two other senior Hamas leaders.

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