The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borell, has urged Israel not to “threaten” judges of the ICC, whose chief prosecutor has requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu.

“I ask everyone, starting with the Israeli government, but also certain European governments, not to intimidate the judges, not to threaten them,” Borrell told Spanish public television channel TVE.

Earlier this week, Netanyahu, responding to a question about whether he would fear travelling internationally after a potential ICC warrant, said he was not, but that the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, “should be concerned about his status”.

Khan says he was also warned by a senior Western official that the ICC should be “for Africa and for thugs like Putin,” not for the West and its allies.

“We don’t do it like that,” Khan said in an interview with CNN, adding: “This court should be the triumph of law”.