Haaretz  - Chen Maanit and Jonathan Lis / Israel Scrambles as Netanyahu, Gallant and IDF Chief Face ICC Arrest Warrants for War Crimes in Gaza
 

• The news shouldn't have surprised the attorney general's office: Karim Khan, the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, might issue arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials on suspicion of war crimes in Gaza. 

• The Justice Ministry and army lawyers are working hard to prevent that from happening. 

• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, the United States and other Western countries are also striving to convince Khan to delay or prevent the issuing of warrants. But it's not clear that they're succeeding. 

• Israeli officials say they believe that the warrants will be served sometime this week against Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Herzl Halevi. Officials below them would be spared.

   

Financial Times - Benjamin Parkin, Jyotsna Singh and John Reed / Narendra Modi increases anti-Muslim rhetoric in India election campaign
 

• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has increased divisive rhetoric on the election campaign, deploying some of the most extreme language of his decade in power to attack opponents and mobilise Hindu voters as his party seeks a historic third term. 

• In a series of rallies since India’s general election began on April 19, Modi has referred to the country’s Muslim minority as “infiltrators”, likened his Bharatiya Janata party’s arch-rival Indian National Congress to the historic pro-Pakistan Muslim League and accused Congress of seeking to “loot” wealth from Hindus and redistribute it to Muslims. 

• “Congress wants to take part of the rights of [lower-caste Hindus] and give it to their vote bank,” Modi told a campaign rally in Goa on Saturday. “And you know who Congress’s favourite vote bank is,” he added — a thinly veiled reference to Muslims. 

• The same day, Anurag Thakur, the BJP information minister, told another rally that Congress “wants to give your children’s property to Muslims”.

   

Al-Jazeera / Elon Musk meets China’s No 2 official in Beijing
 

• Tesla CEO Elon Musk has met with China’s No 2 official on an unannounced visit to Beijing. 

• Musk’s meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang comes as Chinese carmakers are promoting their latest electric vehicles at the Beijing Motor Show taking place from April 25 to May 5. 

• During their meeting on Sunday, Li told Musk that he hoped the United States would engage with China on “win-win” cooperation, citing Tesla’s operations in China as a successful example of working together, Chinese state media reported. 

• “China’s very large-scale market will always be open to foreign-funded firms,” Li was quoted as saying.
   

Related article: Financial Times - Andy Bounds / EU would need 50% tariffs to curb imports of Chinese electric cars

Euractiv - Alessia Peretti / Meloni to run in EU elections, wants to ‘send left into opposition’
 

• Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced on Sunda that she will be running in the European elections as the only candidate for her party Fratelli d’Italia, hoping that her candidacy will help the right wing in the European Parliament and relegate the left into opposition. 

• Speaking at her party’s policy conference in Pescara, entitled ‘Italy changes Europe’, Meloni stressed her commitment to leading from the front. 

• “I have always considered myself a soldier, and soldiers, when necessary, do not hesitate to take their place at the front,” she said as she announced her sole candidacy for Fratelli d’Italia, despite having no intention of taking up a seat in the European Parliament if elected. 

• The move comes a week after Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein came under fire for standing in June’s European elections as a strategy to attract more voters despite not seeking a seat in the European Parliament.

Our opinion reads for today:

• Foreign Affairs - Oona A. Hathaway / War Unbound 
• Project Syndicate - Mohamed A. El-Erian / Navigating Major Transitions in an Uncertain Economy