The International Criminal Court (ICC) sullied its image and tarnished its reputation when it issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and the late leader of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, whose death last summer has yet to be officially confirmed by Hamas.
On November 21, all three were accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity with respect to their roles in the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
That the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, equated Netanyahu and Gallant with Deif is beyond belief, unreasonable and unacceptable.
Never before have the leaders of a Western democracy been accused of such crimes by an international court. Lamentably enough, Israel is accustomed to such injustices. Last January, the International Court of Justice allowed a case charging Israel with genocide to proceed.
This is a highly disturbing case. Khan, who himself faces accusations of sexual misconduct, is plainly incapable of differentiating between the legitimate motives of a nation under attack and the diabolical intentions of an arch terrorist.
Khan’s rank inability to draw such an important distinction should be deeply offensive to anyone who truly cares about justice.
A mass murderer who never reconciled himself to Israel’s existence, Deif was one of the planners of the massacre that unfolded in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. This unprecedented atrocity resulted in the deaths of roughly 1,200 people, led to the abduction of 250 Israelis and foreigners, and triggered the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Netanyahu and Gallant, in reacting to Hamas’ murderous rampage, were simply performing their duties in a war of self-defence. They were protecting Israel and its citizens from bands of blood-thirsty terrorists bent on wreaking death and destruction.
The ICC charges that Netanyahu and Gallant “intentionally and knowingly” deprived the civilian population of Gaza of food, water, medicine, medical equipment, fuel and electricity.
Shocked and outraged by Hamas’ horrendous attack, the Israeli government imposed a total embargo on the entry of humanitarian supplies into Gaza in the first few days after October 7. But yielding to pressure from the United States, Israel revised its policy and permitted a relatively steady flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
Understandably enough, Netanyahu dismissed the ICC’s “absurd and false” accusations and pledged to carry on fighting until Israel’s war aims are achieved.
The United States equally rejected its verdict, saying it had no jurisdiction in this case.
Mike Waltz, whom U.S. President-elect Donald Trump appointed as his national security adviser, said the incoming Trump administration would react strongly to the ICC’s decision.
Be that as it may, the 124 member states of the ICC are likely to respect its decision, as Josep Borrell, the European Union’s chief diplomat, said. This means that Netanyahu and Gallant face the risk and humiliation of arrest when they travel abroad, thereby finding themselves in the same predicament as Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It is clear that the arrest warrants represent a grave blow to Israel’s global standing. Hamas and its patron, Iran, must be ecstatic.
It should be noted that the arrest warrants were issued in spite the fact that Israel is not even a member of the ICC, which was established under the Rome Treaty in 1998.
Syria as well is not a signatory of the Rome Treaty. Yet the ICC has not issued an arrest warrant for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. As the dictator of a police state, he has been credibly accused of mass murder during the course of the civil war in Syria, which erupted in 2011 and has yet to be resolved.
Amnesty International, in a report published in 2017, accused the Syrian government of murdering an estimated 13,000 persons, mostly civilians, at the Saydnaya military prison. “These practices, which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, are authorized at the highest levels of the Syrian government,” the report said.
A French court has issued an international arrest warrant for Assad for complicity in war crimes linked to chemical weapons attacks on civilians in August 2013. These attacks caused the deaths of more than 1,000 civilians, including children.
Mazen Darwish, the founder and director general of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, has described the French arrest warrant as “a step on the path to justice and sustainable peace in Syria.”
Nevertheless, Assad remains untouched by arrest warrants because his allies, Russia and China, have vetoed United Nations Security Council referrals to the ICC. So while Netanyahu and Gallant are subject to incarceration in foreign countries, Assad has no reason to be worried by the possibility of being targeted by the ICC.
There is something terribly amiss in this asymmetrical situation.