EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell has urged Israel “not to intimidate” or “threaten” the judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose prosecutor has requested arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and defence minister, AFP reports.

“I ask everyone, starting with the Israeli government, but also certain European governments, not to intimidate the judges, not to threaten them,” Borrell said during an interview with Spanish public television TVE, calling for “respect for the International Criminal Court”.

What the court’s prosecutor “has done in presenting a case should not be considered as an anti-Semitic attitude,” the former Spanish foreign minister added.