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 Netanyahu may have immunity from arrest because Israel isn’t a signatory of the court’s founding treaty.

Provisions for immunity from prosecution at the International Criminal Court apply to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the French foreign ministry said Wednesday."Such immunities apply to Prime Minister Netanyahu and other ministers in question,