The Foreign Ministry did not say outright that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel would be free to travel to France, but it argued that an I.C.C. rule on immunity may apply to him.

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

Now, France has also bucked the general trend. After initially stating that it would adhere to the ICC statutes, Paris has since suggested that Netanyahu enjoys immunity from the