Merz says he will find a way for Netanyahu to visit Germany without being arrested

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Germany's likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday he had invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit and would find a way for him to do so without being arrested under a warrant by the International Criminal Court.

"I think it is a completely absurd idea that an Israeli prime minister cannot visit the Federal Republic of Germany," Merz said at a press conference, a day after his conservatives won the largest share of the vote in a national election.

Merz said he had told Netanyahu by phone "that we would find ways and means for him to visit Germany and leave again without being arrested".

Netanyahu's office said the Israeli leader had congratulated Merz. It also said Merz had told Netanyahu he would invite him to Germany "in defiance of the scandalous International Criminal Court decision to label the prime minister a war criminal".

The Hague-based ICC has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defence minister as well as Hamas officials for alleged war crimes committed in Gaza.

All 27 EU countries including Germany are signatories of the founding treaty of the court, the only permanent international tribunal for war crimes and crimes against humanity, which requires members to arrest its suspects on their territory.

The ICC said that states have a legal obligation to enforce its decisions, and any concerns they may have should be addressed with the court in a timely and efficient manner.

"It is not for states to unilaterally determine the soundness of the court's legal decisions," said the ICC.

Israel rejects the jurisdiction of the court and denies war crimes.

Germans feel a special responsibility towards Israel due to the legacy of the Holocaust, and Merz has made clear he is a strong ally. But Germany also has a strong tradition of support for international justice for war crimes.

The Left party called Merz's invitation a "disaster" and accused him of "double standards".

Germany has always insisted that international arrest warrants must be implemented, said Left co-leader Jan van Aken.

"If Vladimir Putin comes to Germany, then this arrest warrant must be implemented. The same applies to Netanyahu," said Aken, referring to an ICC arrest warrant issued for the Russian leader over the deportation of children from Ukraine.

The war in Gaza started when Hamas-led militants launched a cross-border attack on Israeli communities, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israel's tallies.

The Israeli retaliatory offensive has killed at least 48,000 people, Gaza health authorities say, and reduced much of the enclave to rubble, leaving hundreds of thousands of people in makeshift shelters and dependent on aid.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie, Andreas Rinke; Additional reporting by Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam; Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Peter Graff and Gareth Jones)