How the Lebanon Cease-Fire Was Saved After an ICC Warrant Nearly Upended It

As the U.S., France and Israel were completing talks on a Lebanon cease-fire, a surprise threatened to upend a deal: The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israelis demanded that French President Emmanuel Macron disavow the warrant or they wouldn’t accept France’s monitoring role. Macron instead offered to end France’s involvement, which risked scuttling the deal, Western officials familiar with the exchange said.

A series of top-level diplomatic maneuvers preserved France’s pivotal role in monitoring the cease-fire and cast doubt on whether the country would ever carry out the warrant. How the negotiators saved a rare moment of Middle East peacemaking is a tale of international law and great power politics.

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