In his first major interview since he announced he would request arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders, International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan dismisses as “nonsense” accusations that he was equating the actions of Israel and the terror group.

“I am not saying that Israel with its democracy and its supreme court is akin to Hamas, of course not. I couldn’t be clearer, Israel has every right to protect its population and to get the hostages back. But nobody has a license to commit war crimes or crimes against humanity. The means define us,” Khan tells the UK’s The Sunday Times.

Khan says that when an Israeli official asked him how they were supposed to locate the hostages, he gave the example of Britain and the IRA.

“There were attempts to kill Margaret Thatcher, Airey Neave was blown up, Lord Mountbatten was blown up, there was the Enniskillen attack, we had kneecappings… But the British didn’t decide to say, ‘Well, on the Falls Road [the heart of Catholic Belfast] there undoubtedly may be some IRA members and Republican sympathizers, so therefore let’s drop a 2,000 lb bomb on the Falls Road.’ You can’t do that,” Khan says.

The British outlet says Khan carries a blue wristband printed with “Bring Them Home,” calling for the return of the hostages, along with a dog tag dedicated to the youngest hostage, Kfir Bibas.

“This would break anyone’s heart,” he said. “Kfir was just nine months old. But there’s no monopoly on suffering. There are Palestinian babies dying and we cannot have double standards.”

Khan says that if the warrants are issued, the world has a responsibility to enforce them.

“If states don’t step up, it has massive implications,” Khan says. “The ICC is their child — I am just the nanny or hired help. They have a choice to look after this child or be responsible for its abandonment.”