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i'm christian fraser, and this . is the context. >> this is the international criminal court, a court that deals with individual criminal responsibility when countries are unable or unwilling to put to justice. >> absolutely furious on the israeli side. welcomed by palestinians across all spectrums. >> israel and benjamin netanyahu are not standing on the stage. >> no outrageous anti-israel decision will prevent this, and it will not prevent me from continuing to defend our country in every way. we will not yield to pressure. ♪ christian: also's and i,

vladimir putin says russia has a new ballistic weapon that travels threeilometers a second. no one, he says, has the ability to stop it. in a statement tonight, the russian leader says he reserves the right to use it with the military of nato countries supporting ukraine. we will get reaction tonight from the french ambassador who is sense to take -- who is soon to take of his post in moscow. among icc arrest warrants for the arrest warrants, a former distant -- defense minister and the commander. and in washington, matt gaetz withdrawals as trump's next attorney general as new, damaging allegations emerge. let's start with the international criminal court, which today issued arrest warrants for israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu angeles former defense minister

-- and for his former defense minister. the judges on the three trial panel said they have reasonable grounds to respected -- expect that these three men bear responsibility for alleged war crimes, including murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts. two israeli politicians have used starvation as a tool of war. in israel, there have been condemnation of the decision across the political spectrum, and in the last few hours, the prime minister has given this response. pm netanyahu: this is a bright day in the history of nations. the international court of justice at the hague has today become the enemy of humanity. this court has decided to issue arrest warrants against me and

former defense minister gallant , that we have allegedly committed crimes against humanity, which the truth is completely the opposite. this is moral bankruptcy. it violates the natural rights of democracies to defend themselves against murderous terrorism. christian: let's go live to the hand our colleague, anna hall aga-- anna holigan. on what basis do have they brought these chges, and what evidence has been brought to the three trial panel? anna: well, the actual evidentiary bar is lowered to issue the arrest warrants than it would be during trial. you have mentioned the words reasonable grounds. the chamber here at the icc just

has to be convinced there are reasonable grounds based on the evidence submitted by the prosecutor to believe that these men are responsible for the war crimes and crimes against humanity listed. i want to break those down for you, because according to the arrest warrant, as you said, starvation as a weapon of warfare and of deliberately directing military tax against civilians. on the issue of starvation, because the icc covers war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in international contexts, they have formatted this in relation to each of those jurisdictions, so, for example, the pretrial judges were found that benjamin netanyahu, you have gallant did -- yoav galla there are reasonable grounds to believe they blocked humanitarian aid,

without any reasonable grounds, they said, military needs or justification. they said there is reason to believe murder was committed as a crime against humanity, because all of these actions, they believe that they were designed to create the conditions of life, calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population in gaza, which meant that people, including children, died of malnutrition and dehydration. and also, the targeting with the civilian population, they said that benjamin netanyahu and yoav gallant had the ability to stop or reduce the attacks on the civilian population. and just another thing, christian, we heard from the icc prosecutor earlier who release a written statement. he did not come out and speak to the press. he says they are collecting

mines for the victims of international crimes. i appeal to all state parties to live up to their commitments to what underpins the icc by complying with the judicial orders. what he means by that is that the icc's 124 members are now inspected to enforce these arrest warrants, because this court does not have a police force, it depends on member states. what it means in practice is that now the ability of benjamin tanyahu and yoav gallant to travel freely as they have been in the past, is potentially restrictive because countries like the u.k., who have signed up for the icc, are expected to enforce these arrest warrants. and we have heard some reactions from human rights groups as well. they said these warrants break through the perception that sanction individuals beyond the reach of law. christian: anna holligan at the hague, thank you very much for

that. from new york, luis moreno ocampo, served the icc. what is your response to the issuing of these warrants? luis: well, legally very well-founded. you asked for evidence. it is coming. and mr. gallant ordered starvation from the beginning publicly. president biden for one year was begging benjamin netanyahu to allow food and water, even the u.s. created a port, so on the factual evidence, it is brutal on salvation. -- starvation. and they elected not to go to

more congregate crimes, general crimes, or even the bonding, it just focused on this action of the conflict. so legally, also the prosecutor requests of six prominent lawyers, including judges from the u.k., so very prominent lawyers all in agreement. so factually and legally, it is clear, it is the state problem. so how states will use these to prevent the bombings. the cease-fire for one year, ok, it is time to do it. it is an opportunity to change the court. christian: on that point, and the eyes of the court, the conduct that you described at the center of this arrest warrant, to assist, that surely implies that any country lending material or diplomatic support

to israel also risks supporting war crimes. so will those in states that supply weapons to israel now need to take that into account? luis: well, before germany and before the other court, germany showed it is stopping to provide weapons. u.s. is the biggest provider. now the big debate is how the u.s. will react. because at the beginning, president biden was urging israel, yes, you have the right to defend, no one doubts that. but your defense should follow the law. that would cause you to be constrained. n.l. the icc is saying look, it is illegal. so the challenge for biden is, are you going to stay firm in the law, even when your friend, netanyahu, is indicted? that is a challenge.

it is a challenge for the u.s. christian: donald trump is a much closer friend to netanyahu than joe biden. luis: well, we will see what mr. trump does. the court issued for vladimir putin come at the court could also issued to maduro, and venezuela. the court is not about friends or enemies, the court is about crimes. so the u.s. could do something, because to help netanyahu to escape is easy. you don't need political support or progress. ey know how to do it. if israel conducts national proceedings today, national proceedings, that would stop the icc case, because the icc has jurisdiction when the national jurisdiction is not doing their job.

israel for that investigation for the same crime, that would stop thease. christian: just on that point, because i have heard the israeli minister give their response today, and one of the points they make is that the icc does not have jurisdiction here. the icc disagrees. can you explain that to us? luis: well, and my time, palestine was not a state, was not considered a state by the u.n., but after i left, the u.n. general assembly, by what was a majority, provides palestine with recognition, you are a state. and last year, the u.n. council voted to give them a member of the you in, and the u.s. vetoed, so that is different. palestine is a state, and in fact, it was accepted by the icc, and that is why it is a state.

and as a state, any crime committed in palestine could be a crime on the icc. israel cannot pretend to have the right to invade palestine or lebanon and nobody can tell them anything. you cross the border, well, the international community will convene. christian: luis moreno ocampo, thank you very much for coming on the program. luis: thank you. christian: we will take a short break. around the world and across the u.k., you are watchingbc news. ♪ ♪

the man that donald trump chose to become his next attorney general, matt gaetz, has withdrawn his name from consideration tonight, one day after meeting senators on capitol hill. gaetz was facing new allegations about a second sexual encounter with a girl he met at a party he

was 17 at the time. in a statement on x, gaetz said he had positiveeetings with senators, but he said that it was clear it was becoming unfairly considered. there was no time to waste, he added, and immediately protracted. gaetz resigned from the house november 13, hours after trump nominated him. republicans voted yesterday not to release results of their investigation into gaetz, even though it was largely finished. our correspondent in north america, gary o'donoghue, joins us. gary, what changed? gary: i think there are two things. one is it became a lot clearer hill yesterday for republican senators, particularly those on the judiciary committee, the committee and the senate that went on the initial questions of

matt gaetz before a vote, and there was a lot of concern amongst some of those republican senators about his record, about the allegations swirling around him, and about his qualifications. the other thing i think to bear in mind is matt gaetz did not have a lot of friends on capitol hill, does not have a lot of friends on capitol hill, inside his own party, he was someone who, the bomb thrower who brought down kevin mccarthy, the house speaker. so i think when it came to it, did not have the words to withdraw on, and there was also the question of the allegation, the second allegation you mentioned. we don't have the details on that, although it appears to be the same 17 year old girl who we know about in that initial allegation, all of which he denies, of course, and none of which he has been charged with. so i think all of that coming together over the past week --

it has only been a week since the nomination was meant -- and this one was the first to fall. christian: he has been sucking up all the oxygen in washington this past week, gary. he's not the only one facing a rough confirmation process. gary: that will be the interesting thing over the coming days. does this open the way for the other controversial nominees? now that donald trump won, people like tulsi gabbard, who has been nominated as director of national intelligence, you know, criticize for her connections with russia, meeting president assad come all these kinds of things. does it make it easier, or does it make it seem like ok, we can reflect here a little bit, and they given pretty quickly. that is the thing we are going to watch for very closely, because matt gaetz was the most controversial trunk picked over a number of controversial pix,

not least tulsi gabbard and also pete hegseth, picked for defense secretary, who has also dealt with allegations of sexual propriety, denied by him and not been charged with anything. christian: gary o'donoghue in washington, thank you very much. the russian president vladimir putin said an attack in central ukraine this morning was carried out with a new conventional intermediate range missile. there were significant explosions overnight at an industrial plant. eyewitnesses said there was a distinctly abnormal sound compared to the usual bombardment commanded appears to involve multiple projectiles. military experts have suggested it could be a new experimental type of weapon. concern tonight by vladimir putin, the missile he said travels at a speed of mach 10, nearly three kilometers per second. the russian president said his forces reserve it to hit states whose long way in to used inside

russia. -- whose long-range missiles are used inside of russia. that could be why the embassy was close. the missile is capable of bypassing ukrainian air defenses. clearly they want to send a message from and they wanted putin to deliver it. bizarrely, the spokeswoman took a call this morning, and in the middle of her brief income in which she was disrupted -- briefing in which she was instructed not to answer any questions about ballistic missiles. >> hello? [speaking russian] christian: early in the day, sir keir starmer told the house of commons that inspired all of this intimidation, the u.k. would continue to support

ukraine's right to self-defense. p.m. starmer: the u.k. is always for self-defense. it is as proportionate and agile and the response to russia's own actions, and it is in accordance with international law. under article 51 of the u.n. charter, ukraine has a clear right of self-defense against russia's illegal attack. christian: well, joining us from new york tonight is france's ambassador to the u.n., and very soon he will be leaving that post to become france's ambassador to moscow. you are very welcome to the program. amb. de riviere: thank you for having me. christian: can i get your reaction to vladimir putin

tonight, he said a conflict of a global nature. how far do you think he is willing to go? amb. de riviere: i don't know. i think it is important to get back to the basics. in february 2022, russia took actions against ukraine. there is on this issue an aggressor and a victim. ukraine is defending itself from the very beginning, and as far as i know, the ukrainian army never took actions against russia. they did not engineer this war. so ukraine is defending itself, according to article 51 of th charter, and when countries like mine, the u.k. and the u.s. and ukraine, has run into some legal , because day 51 of the charter, what is illegal is the russian aggression ainst ukraine. it is illegal. as soon asthma march 2022, -- as

soon as march 20 22 clearly stated that the russians should leave ukraine and respect the territorial integrity of ukraine. this has been the legal pronouncement as soon as march 2022, and the case was today. christian: russia, the president said tonight, it has the right to use weapons is military installations against those countries that use weapons against russian facilities. are they moving toward a war footing? amb. de riviere: well, i would not comment on that. we are in a situation where the western countries, nato countries, are not clearly engaged against russia, absolutely not. we are just entering ukraine to defend itself. this is what we have been doing from the very beginning. this is still what we are doing,

according to article 51 of the charter. christian: and has france greenlighted the use of the missile? amb. de riviere: we are not there yet, and i would not comment on that. i think it is an option, but i would not comment on that at this stage. christian: u.k. and france has said this past week that ukraine will get the support they need for as long as they need it. does that mean that france does not support a negotiation that would be forced on ukraine? amb. de riviere: yes. i think we are here to help ukraine to defend its sovereignty, its territorial integrity, and its independence. that is what the u.n. charter is about. christian: would you support them indefinitely if they decide not to sit down with russia? amb. de riviere: it is 40 ukraine to decide to negotiate when they want to negotiate. we will not let them down. it is very clear. we will not force them to

negotiate and to give up their territory. christian: in which case, you presume vladimir putin will want to negotiate. he may not appear that poses a seismic question for france, for the u.k., and for the eu at large. are we prepared to finance this war without u.s. support, and if we are, how are we going to do that? amb. de riviere: i think the question will be asked next year, of course, there will be changes in the u.s. it is obvious. but as far as we are concerned, a strategic issue for europe as well, ukraine is on european territory. as you know, there are talks between them to move on ukraine, and ukraine is a european country. it is not on the american

continent, and we have our own strategic interests on this issue. christian: forgive me for interrupting. time is tight come ambassador. but the criticism that we talk about, supporting ukraine, but europe is not on a war footing, and very quickly, one of our key alliances in respect to ukraine might disappear. amb. de riviere: we will see. we are not there yet. the next administration will start two months from now, so we will see what they decide to do. there were commitments, statements during the campaign in the u.s. we will see what they decide to do. i would be surprised if the u.s. would let ukraine down. i don't think this is something popular in the u.s. congress. what we need to do, as europeans, is to continue to do as much as we can to support ukraine, militarily,

humanitarian, from a humanitarian vantage point, and continue to be at their side. i think you are right, it is difficult. it is never enough. we cannot do everything. there have been good choice to have nato and europe not directly confronting russia. that is still the case, but we need ukraine to be able to exercise its legitimate defense rights. i think that is necessary, and it will continue to be the case. it will be for ukraine and for the ukrainian leadership to decide at what stage, if they want to sit at the table and negotiate. christian: ambassador, i'm very grateful for your time this evening, best of luck in your new post in moscow. that is ambassador nicholas dave riviere -- nicolas de announcer: funding for presentation of this program

is provided by... financial seices firm, raymond james. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: get the free pbs app now and stream the best of pbs.

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