EDITORIAL: In a momentous decision, the International Criminal Court’s (ICC’s) chief prosecutor Karim Khan on May 20 requested arrest warrants be issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three senior Hamas officials for possible war crimes.
Over the last few months, the chief prosecutor had been investigating the events of October 7 and their aftermath, which saw Israel launch a brutal assault against the doomed population of Gaza, resulting, so far, in the deaths of at least 35,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians.
The significant aspect of the decision lies in the fact that a well-respected constituent of the global legal order has for the first time attempted to hold a key Western ally accountable for its actions. In a detailed statement, Khan has highlighted how Israel deployed a “widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to state policy” and that it has engaged in the deprivation of “objects indispensable to human survival”, including food, water, medicine and energy.
Any claims of self-defence on Israel’s part, according to Khan, cannot absolve it of its obligation to comply with international humanitarian law.
And, as has been visible for the world to see, in no way can the massacre of thousands of Palestinians, over half of them women and children, and at least 576,000 Gazans being “one step away from famine” according to the UN, be justified with spurious claims of self-defence.
It is, however, unlikely that PM Netanyahu and his defence minister will be hauled up in front of the court anytime soon. In theory, however, both individuals can be arrested in any one of the 124 countries that have ratified the court’s founding treaty if Khan’s application for the arrest warrants is accepted by the ICC.
The reactions to the decision have been entirely predictable, with the Israeli government having the temerity to call on “nations who despise terrorists … to stand by Israel”. Given that anyone with any sense of justice can clearly distinguish between those perpetrating terror in the Middle East and those fighting for their freedom, Israel will find that its exhortation will only spur peace-seeking people and nations to continue to call out its horrific actions in Gaza.
The responses from part of the Western bloc – the US, the UK and Germany – have also been unsurprisingly condemnatory, with President Joe Biden terming Khan’s action “outrageous” and claiming there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas.
It is pertinent to note, however, that Khan did not make any claims of equivalence between the activities of the two parties, and both have been charged with their own separate actions. In any case, there can indeed be no equivalence here as Palestinians have been subjected to a programme of terror by the Israeli state for the last 75 years, with the events since October 7 only the latest in a series of grave human rights violations that highlight the systemic nature of the oppression.
The acute imbalance of power and the continuous tyranny that Palestinians have been suffering make any notion of parity fundamentally flawed and unjustified.
American hypocrisy has been on full display here as only a year ago, a similar decision regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin was welcomed by the Biden Administration. It is about time the US-led West realised that the rule of law does not apply solely to its rivals.
As Khan has rightly stated, “if we don’t demonstrate our willingness to apply the law equally … we will be creating the conditions for its collapse.” It is high time then that Israeli leaders are held accountable for the bloodshed of thousands of innocents.
In another welcome development that would further the cause of Palestinian statehood, a trio of West European nations; Norway, Spain and Ireland each announced their intention to recognise a Palestinian state on the 28th day of this month and have called upon other nations to follow suit.
This decision by the European trio has evoked praise from Muslim and Arab countries, denunciation from Israel and displeasure from the US. Let us hope that other nations too would accord similar recognition that would pave the way for establishment of a Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024