New overflights of French airspace by the official plane carrying B. Netanyahu
THE July 27, 2026, an official plane carrying the Israeli Prime Minister, B. Netanyahu, has once again crossed the airspace of Greece, Italy and France, in preparation for his meeting with the American president D. Trump.
THE July 30, 2026, On the return flight to Tel Aviv, French airspace was crossed again by the same aircraft, which then went to the Nevatim military base.
These new overflights had to be the subject of a official authorization. They come at a time when Mr. Netanyahu remains under a Arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on November 21, 2024, due to acts classified by the Court as war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza Strip since October 8, 2023.
They are part of a continuum of at least six other identical overflights of French territory.
A possible breach of international cooperation obligations
In accordance with the’Article 1 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation of 7 December 1944, The airspace of a State constitutes an integral part of its territory, over which its full sovereignty is exercised.
However, according to the Articles 86, 89 and 92 of the Rome Statute, States have an obligation to cooperate with the ICC in its investigations, which includes the obligation to arrest any person subject to a Court warrant who is present, even temporarily, on their territory.
The Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Mr. Jean-Noël Barrot, argued, in a response published in the Official Journal the May 6, 2025, that the Rome Statute would not impose any obligation regarding the overflight of national territory by a State aircraft having among its passengers a person subject to an arrest warrant.
This ministerial interpretation seems difficult to reconcile with Article 27 of the Rome Statute, which excludes any immunity linked to a person's official status before the Court.
Furthermore, the eighth edition of the Practical Guide to Procedure for the Chambers of the ICC provides that, whenever information relating to a planned or ongoing movement within the territory of a State party of a fugitive person subject to an arrest warrant is transmitted to the Court or to one of its organs, the Registrar shall transmit a request for arrest and surrender or, if such a request has already been transmitted, a note verbale reminding the State of its obligation to cooperate.
The public reports from the Registry concerning the warrant for Mr. Netanyahu also recall the House's instruction to send requests for provisional arrest to States Parties when an opportunity for arrest arises.
Repeating a precedent
The first overflight of French airspace by Mr. Netanyahu's aircraft, authorized by the French authorities, took place on February 2, 2025.
This was followed by other flyovers April 6 and 9, July 7 and December 28, 2025, as well as the February 10, 2026.
THE April 7, 2025, JURDI had alerted the President of the Republic to a potential serious violation of France's international commitments, by a letter which remained unanswered.
JURDI also requested, on the basis of the right of access to administrative documents, the communication of procedures and registers relating to authorizations for overflights by state aircraft.
As it stands, two appeals The cases against the refusals to communicate by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) and the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs remain pending before the Paris Administrative Court.
JURDI has also contacted the President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute (ASP) to request that a discussion be opened on clarifying the obligations of States Parties regarding the presence of suspects in their airspace.
For JURDI, the repetition of these overflights, combined with the lack of clarification of the French position, calls for a heightened vigilance.
Consequently, JURDI calls upon the French Government:
- to evaluate systematically any request for authorization to overfly national territory by an aircraft transporting a person subject to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, and to refuse it or to consult the Court in case of doubt about the course of action to take; ;
- to be ready to implement without delay the arrest and surrender mechanisms in the event that an aircraft carrying a person subject to an arrest warrant lands, in an emergency or for a technical reason, on national territory; ;
- to publicly clarify the position expressed on May 6, 2025, which does not address either the obligation to consult the Court in the event of an overflight, or the obligation to arrest in the event of a landing.
