The International Criminal Court may finally be doing its job
- By issuing arrest warrants for leaders of both sides involved in the current carnage in Gaza, the ICC will restore its international prestige
The International Criminal Court has had a reputation of going after tinpot dictators and warlords from Africa. More recently, though, it seems to have grown a spine such as by pursuing Russian President Vladimir Putin. The West, of course, applauded. Now, though, the ICC may be going after one of its sacred cows. It’s widely believed arrest warrants are being prepared for top leaders of both Israel and Hamas for war crimes.
However, on Friday, the ICC released an official statement condemning efforts to “intimidate” the court. It came as Israel is readying an assault on Rafah that the UN humanitarian office has warned would be “a slaughter of civilians and an incredible blow to the humanitarian operation in the entire strip”. A million displaced Gazans are taking refuge there.
Without naming names, the ICC said: “Independence and impartiality are undermined when individuals threaten to retaliate against the court or against court personnel …
“Such threats … may constitute an offence against the administration of justice under Article 70 of the Rome Statute … The office insists that all attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence its officials cease immediately.”
The Rome Statute is the 1998 treaty that established the ICC to which neither Israel nor the United States are party.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier issued a statement: “The International Criminal Court in The Hague is contemplating issuing arrest warrants against senior Israeli government and military officials as war criminals. This would be an outrage of historic proportions.”
Netanyahu has reportedly asked the White House to intervene, as have a group of Democrat and Republican lawmakers. News site Axios reported that Israel had threatened to “collapse” the Palestinian Authority if the ICC went ahead.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said: “We’ve been really clear about the ICC investigation. We do not support it. We don’t believe that they have the jurisdiction.”
The ICC refused to comment on a meeting it reportedly held with a group of US legislators. US Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has called the ICC’s planned move “disgraceful” and said such warrants would be “illegitimate”. No such warrants have so far been issued.
“Such a lawless action by the ICC would directly undermine US national security interests,” he said. “If unchallenged by the Biden administration, the ICC could create and assume unprecedented power to issue arrest warrants against American political leaders, American diplomats, and American military personnel, thereby endangering our country’s sovereign authority.” “Lawless” by the ICC? Johnson, too, has chutzpah aplenty à la Netanyahu. It’s not clear why going after Israel which is facing genocide charges before the International Court of Justice, the ICC threatens US sovereignty. Is it still two countries, or not?
Johnson continued: “The Biden administration must immediately and unequivocally demand that the ICC stand down and the US should use every available tool to prevent such an abomination.” Democrat Senator John Fetterman posted on X: “It would be a fatal blow to the judicial and moral standing of ICC to pursue this path against Israel.”
You can tell by their desperate responses that the American power structure has been shaken to its core, that is, the elite nexus of corporate sponsors, billionaire donors, pro-Israel lobby, and the ruling class on Capitol Hill. Their open and shameless interference goes beyond undermining international legal protocol. It is striking at the very heart of international law and the very institution that lies at its foundation.
When mass murders are so blatantly committed live on social and even mainstream media, the world cannot turn a blind eye even if it wanted to. Arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his clique will make the Western powers think twice before supplying more weapons to Israel.
They will restore the ICC’s international prestige, by showing it can act to prevent ongoing atrocities, rather than seeking justice for past crimes.
