France, which is under pressure over its stance on an international arrest warrant issued for Israel's prime minister, declined on Thursday to say whether it would be prepared to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin under a similar warrant.

The French foreign ministry suggested that Netanyahu may have immunity from arrest because Israel isn’t a signatory to the court’s founding treaty.

Lawyers, rights groups and politicians accuse Paris of misrepresenting the Rome Statute after its volte-face on obligation to arrest and surrender Israel's PM to the ICC