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International Criminal Court Issues Arrest Warrants for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Former Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant

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The International Criminal Court decision to issue arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant is an important indicator of the solidification of international opinion against the openly genocidal state of Israel. At the end of the post, we have extracted the key section of the ICC’s press release. It describes how the basis for the administering the warrants is the systematic starvation, cutting off of electricity, and withholding of medical supplies to the population. Note that his site described Israel’s conduct as genocide on October 21, 2023, long before it was fashionable to call out Israel’s crime against humanity for what they are, based on Israel’s decision to cut off electricity to Gaza permanently.

Two Palestinian leaders has also been targeted by the ICC prosecutor for arrest warrants, Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, but both are dead. The ICC did issue a warrant for Hamas military leader Mohammed Dief even though Israel maintains they have killed him.

The ICC’s raison de’etre is to step in when government legal systems are too corrupt or too decrepit to prosecute major crimes by officials. So these arrest warrants are a stern rebuke to the entire state going whole hog for the murder of Palestinian civilians. In fact, the notion that the ICC existed only to go after what the Collective West deemed to be dirtbag leaders was the argument the US used to try to bully the ICC prosecutor:

The US harassment was likely the big factor in the ICC taking so long after the prosecutor’s request to issue the warrants (by contrast, it oddly took only a month in the case of the Vladimir Putin, for the crime of removing children from of a war zone, despite the absence of complaints by parents).

The Financial Times, which has the ICC action as its lead story, suggests that it proves that Israel is losing even official support outside the US:

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant “for crimes against humanity and war crimes”.

The move is a dramatic escalation of legal proceedings over Israel’s offensive in Gaza, and marks the first time that the court, which was set up in 2002, has issued a warrant for a western-backed leader.

It means that the ICC’s 124 member states — which include most European and Latin American countries and many in Africa and Asia — would be obliged to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant if they entered their territory. But the court has no means of enforcing the warrants if they do not.

The practical impact of this warrant is limited. Many UN members, notably the US, Russia, and Israel, are not parties to the ICC and thus do not enforce ICC warrants (see here for a long discussion, using Israel and Palestine as the focus, about the ICC’s jurisdiction over non-party states). One wonders if any member of the EU (all are members of the ICC) save Ireland would arrest Bibi if, say, his plane landed unexpectedly there. The typical intelligence-insulting bluster by Netanyahu, which will be take seriously by too many in the US and is already being amplified in the UK, suggest the UK wound not enforce the warrants.

Note that the Jerusalem Post’s headline was more “fair and balanced” than the Guardian’s:

But when the ICC prosecutor first applied for the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, some EU members said they would enforce them:

According to the Financial Times today:

… the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said the warrants were not political, and that the court’s decision should be respected and implemented.

France reaffirms its commitment:

The Netherlands joins in:

South Africa quickly praised the ICC action. From Inside Politics:

“These actions mark a significant step towards justice for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Palestine,” the International Relations and Cooperation Department said on Thursday.

“South Africa reaffirms its commitment to international law and urges all state parties to act in accordance with their obligations in the Rome Statute. We call on the global community to uphold the rule of law and ensure accountability for human rights violations.”

Unfortunately, though this is yet another confirmation that Israel is a rogue state, only the US, by cutting off arms, or the Axis of Resistance can stop the slaughter of Palestinians and increasingly, Lebanese. And while the latter’s noose is slowly tightening, the pace is not fast enough to save many lives.

______

From the ICC press release:

Today, on 21 November 2024, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (‘Court’), in its composition for the Situation in the State of Palestine, unanimously issued two decisions rejecting challenges by the State of Israel (‘Israel’) brought under articles 18 and 19 of the Rome Statute (the ‘Statute’). It also issued warrants of arrest for Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Yoav Gallant….

Warrants of arrest

The Chamber issued warrants of arrest for two individuals, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest.

The arrest warrants are classified as ‘secret’, in order to protect witnesses and to safeguard the conduct of the investigations. However, the Chamber decided to release the information below since conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant of arrest appears to be ongoing. Moreover, the Chamber considers it to be in the interest of victims and their families that they are made aware of the warrants’ existence.

At the outset, the Chamber considered that the alleged conduct of Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant falls within the jurisdiction of the Court. The Chamber recalled that, in a previous composition, it already decided that the Court’s jurisdiction in the situation extended to Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Furthermore, the Chamber declined to use its discretionary proprio motu powers to determine the admissibility of the two cases at this stage. This is without prejudice to any determination as to the jurisdiction and admissibility of the cases at a later stage….

Alleged crimes

The Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that during the relevant time, international humanitarian law related to international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine applied. This is because they are two High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and because Israel occupies at least parts of Palestine. The Chamber also found that the law related to non-international armed conflict applied to the fighting between Israel and Hamas. The Chamber found that the alleged conduct of Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant concerned the activities of Israeli government bodies and the armed forces against the civilian population in Palestine, more specifically civilians in Gaza. It therefore concerned the relationship between two parties to an international armed conflict, as well as the relationship between an occupying power and the population in occupied territory. For these reasons, with regards to war crimes, the Chamber found it appropriate to issue the arrest warrants pursuant to the law of international armed conflict. The Chamber also found that the alleged crimes against humanity were part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza.

The Chamber considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity, from at least 8 October 2023 to 20 May 2024. This finding is based on the role of Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant in impeding humanitarian aid in violation of international humanitarian law and their failure to facilitate relief by all means at its disposal. The Chamber found that their conduct led to the disruption of the ability of humanitarian organisations to provide food and other essential goods to the population in need in Gaza. The aforementioned restrictions together with cutting off electricity and reducing fuel supply also had a severe impact on the availability of water in Gaza and the ability of hospitals to provide medical care.

The Chamber also noted that decisions allowing or increasing humanitarian assistance into Gaza were often conditional. They were not made to fulfil Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law or to ensure that the civilian population in Gaza would be adequately supplied with goods in need. In fact, they were a response to the pressure of the international community or requests by the United States of America. In any event, the increases in humanitarian assistance were not sufficient to improve the population’s access to essential goods.

Furthermore, the Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that no clear military need or other justification under international humanitarian law could be identified for the restrictions placed on access for humanitarian relief operations. Despite warnings and appeals made by, inter alia, the UN Security Council, UN Secretary General, States, and governmental and civil society organisations about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, only minimal humanitarian assistance was authorised. In this regard, the Chamber considered the prolonged period of deprivation and Mr Netanyahu’s statement connecting the halt in the essential goods and humanitarian aid with the goals of war.

The Chamber therefore found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant bear criminal responsibility for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare.

The Chamber found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the lack of food, water, electricity and fuel, and specific medical supplies, created conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population in Gaza, which resulted in the death of civilians, including children due to malnutrition and dehydration. On the basis of material presented by the Prosecution covering the period until 20 May 2024, the Chamber could not determine that all elements of the crime against humanity of extermination were met. However, the Chamber did find that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the crime against humanity of murder was committed in relation to these victims.

In addition, by intentionally limiting or preventing medical supplies and medicine from getting into Gaza, in particular anaesthetics and anaesthesia machines, the two individuals are also responsible for inflicting great suffering by means of inhumane acts on persons in need of treatment. Doctors were forced to operate on wounded persons and carry out amputations, including on children, without anaesthetics, and/or were forced to use inadequate and unsafe means to sedate patients, causing these persons extreme pain and suffering. This amounts to the crime against humanity of other inhumane acts.

The Chamber also found reasonable grounds to believe that the abovementioned conduct deprived a significant portion of the civilian population in Gaza of their fundamental rights, including the rights to life and health, and that the population was targeted based on political and/or national grounds. It therefore found that the crime against humanity of persecution was committed.

Finally, the Chamber assessed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population of Gaza. In this regard, the Chamber found that the material provided by the Prosecution only allowed it to make findings on two incidents that qualified as attacks that were intentionally directed against civilians. Reasonable grounds to believe exist that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant, despite having measures available to them to prevent or repress the commission of crimes or ensure the submittal of the matter to the competent authorities, failed to do so.

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50 comments

  2. Lefty Godot

    When will Biden, Blinken, Austin, Sullivan, and Hochstein get their day of reckoning with the ICC? They could share Milosevic’s old cell.

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    3. XXYY

      Interesting point. Does the ICC have its own prison somewhere for those who have been tried and convicted? Or does it rely on member states to provide these facilities?

      Seems like a tricky business to imprison high profile people who have their fingers in a lot of pies around the world. We don’t want Netanyahu to get “Epstein-ed”, for example; we want him to serve out his full term, whatever that is.

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      1. Jeff A

        The ones found guilty start their new life in Jail near The Hague then get transferred around Europe. You never know ‘Bibi’ might end up in solitary in Julian Assange old cell in Belmarsh solitary until he dies. Neither of them could be amongst others prisoners in Europe the number of Islamic extremist prisoners, in fact they have no friends anywhere outside our govts.

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  3. AG

    Germany arrest Bibi? I bet my sweet ass they would NOT!
    Never in my life. And neither any of those other clones of Europe, except may be Ireland.
    Oh and this wouldn´t change with any other government parties in Berlin which means BSW, too.

    p.s. Lucky for Berlin the Hamas dudes are dead. So they are not at danger to be caught red-handed committing to double standards. Gosh, sometimes it feels really liberating to be German. Fuck The Hague, right.

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    1. vao

      Those governments all publicly announced they would follow the decision of the ICC and arrest Gallant and Netanyahu when the opportunity arises.

      I have a hunch that a scenario will take place more or less as follows:

      1) Netanyahu lands in, say Paris.

      2) He is received and treated as the Prime Minister he is — perhaps a bit colder than usual.

      3) Meanwhile, the relevant French ministry puts in motion the machinery to
      a) determine formally that Mr. Netanyahu is in France;
      b) designate a magistrate to handle the case;
      c) draw up a formal arrest warrant;
      d) figure out whether the gendarmerie or the police should handle the case, and if so, which of their specialized units is in charge;
      e) convene a meeting with the policemen to drill them about how to proceed;
      f) issue the marching orders for the policemen.

      4) By the time the officers are ready to deliver the arrest warrant, Netanyahu has had ample time to finish his discussions with Macron and is already flying back to Tel Aviv.

      A competent bureaucracy knows how to play such games.

      In Germany add some fun about the Federal government first clearing up the matter with the Länder through which Netanyahu travels (police is Land prerogative).

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      1. Kouros

        Are you implying it was an unannounced visit? If it comes that it was a scheduled visit, with weeks of advance knowledge, all these bureaucratic machination will fall like the house of cards they are…

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        1. vao

          Come on! As long as he is not actually on French (or German, or whichever) territory, it is not necessary to start the whole machinery, is it? After all, Netanyahu could well cancel his trip before the scheduled date, the ministry of Justice has so many other important things to do, it is so easy to misplace one of those documents that are critical to carry out the procedure, the visit falls partly during a holiday anyway, and, and…

          A more important problem is that a country may be able to use this trick only a couple of times.

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      2. Balan Aroxdale

        I strongly expect this ruling will NOT be applied to any flights over Europe and be interpreted as not including flights which stop only to refuel at airports. Netenyahu’s only major inconvenience will be jet refueling stops. In extremis he can always get the US military to fly him around.

        No more laundry bags though. Probably.

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        1. Yves Smith Post author

          I don’t think so. Israel has been losing votes consistently in the UN, with the US Security Council veto its only defense.

          The German government just fell, in case you were not paying attention. Josep Borrell saying the warrant would be enforced is a big statement that the EU recognizes that Israel really has gone beyond the pale.

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          1. vao

            The tensions within the Israeli government, between Netanyahu and the Israeli intelligence services and the military, and within the Israeli society at large have been simmering for quite a while — as illustrated by the sacking of Gallant, and by a previous incident interpreted as Netanyahu cancelling Gallant’s trip to the USA because he did not want to have him discuss matters with US officials outside his presence.

            Could it be that the USA and an influential political and military faction in Israel are now glad that there is a way to corner Netanyahu and get rid of him? That could also explain why all the NATO and NATO-adjacent countries are now so adamant they will follow the ICC directives — everybody got the message to hamstring that insufferable boor Netanyahu.

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  6. Tom Stone

    This is good news, but It would be nice if the ICJ stated that Biden was not included because he is not competent to stand trial due to his dementia.

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  7. Jeff W

    “This court is built for Africa and thugs like Putin.” Bullying aside, that’s supposed to persuade anyone with an ounce of principles? (Points for candor, I suppose.)

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    2. The Rev Kev

      Said for a very long time that the ICC was for Africans and Slavs and now some officials are up and admitting it. This is going to go down well in African countries.

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  9. Aurelien

    I posted this a short while ago in the Links section. I hope I’ll be forgiven for posting it here as well with some additions. The ICC was always a court of last resort, and it has what’s called ‘complementary jurisdiction’, meaning that it only becomes involved when states are “unable or unwilling” to investigate themselves. It was assumed at the time of the negotiation of the Rome Statute that the most likely application would be in countries where the state and the justice system had broken down after a civil war or something similar. There was never any suggestion that it would simply decide to prosecute anyone it felt like: no state would have signed up to such a treaty. However, as some of us feared at the time, the Court, not helped by a series of incapable prosecutors, has allowed itself to be used as a political tool, and has also wanted to be a political actor, which it never should have been. But paradoxically, Israel could get itself out of this mess by announcing that it was opening inquiries into Netanyahu and Gallant, thus, theoretically at least depriving the ICC of jurisdiction.

    The US hatred for the Court goes back a long way, when the US did sign the statute in 1998, after many concessions had been made to them, only for Clinton to chicken out of getting it ratified. The Little Bush administration were already trying to sabotage the Court from early 2001, and never really let go. The real issue, I suspect is going to be help with investigations, and states parties will probably be asked by the Court to hand over any evidence they have (which can include personal contacts) to the Court. That is going ruffle a few feathers.

    There are some interesting nuances in the charges, which are essentially based on non-military actions. Thus “both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.” That’s an awful lot easier to prove than crimes of deliberate killing and destruction with weapons, and gets round the very complicated issue of proving a chain of criminal command responsibility for specific acts. The other interesting thing is the use of the expression “created conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population in Gaza” which is a clear reference to the text of the Genocide Convention, and may indicate that they have that charge up their sleeve as well, accepting that it’s very difficult to prove in a court of law.

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    1. Bazarov

      Norman Finkelstein, who has studied international law closely, held in a recent interview that the Gaza issue is not one of war at all, that in fact what’s going on in Gaza has little resemblance to a war and therefore the “laws of war” are not particularly applicable. Finkelstein argues that there can be little resistance under conditions in Gaza. He goes further in asserting that the Israelis have an interest in making it seem as if there’s a war going on against Hamas in Gaza, when in reality Israel is conducting ethnic cleansing and genocide largely unimpeded. He believes Gaza has been lost, that many on the left are delusional in arguing to the contrary.

      Finkelstein compares the situation with Japan in WWII, asking rhetorically whether or not one could expect the Japanese in Hiroshima to “resist” following the atomic bombing. He asserts, perhaps hyperbolically though his affect was rather serious, that conditions in Gaza today are analogous to an atomic bombing, with 70 percent of the city reduced to rubble.

      This is why, he said, South Africa before the ICJ did not focus on the “war” against Hamas nor on war crimes. The emphasis was substantially on Israel’s systematic genocide.

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      1. Aurelien

        That approach is consistent with the indictments, which appear to amount to “crimes against humanity” and thus do not require the existence of an armed conflict.

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      2. Mikel

        “He goes further in asserting that the Israelis have an interest in making it seem as if there’s a war going on against Hamas in Gaza, when in reality Israel is conducting ethnic cleansing and genocide largely unimpeded. He believes Gaza has been lost, that many on the left are delusional in arguing to the contrary.”

        I agree. And more than Gaza will be lost.

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        1. Emma

          It’s not unimpeded. Israel hasn’t even cleared the north of Gaza yet after 400 days. They’re still facing armed resistance everywhere, from places they brutally “pacified” multiple times. They dream of taking Gaza gas and rest of the West Bank, but the reality is that a good chunk of their North and South are evacuated, the people with options are leaving, Haifa and Tel Aviv are bombed daily, and their trade routes are getting choked off. And the ICJ decisions opens the ability for Palestinians and BDS forces to enforce legal judgements against Israel and its enablers in the coming years.

          The US regime wants to force the region to give Israel a W but the US can’t even win against the Houthis in the Red Sea.

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            1. Emma

              No. Any break of siege would have to come from the Mediterranean side. Turkey or Egypt should be playing the role of siege breaker but will not.

              There are constant rumors that Yemenese fighters are coming into occupied Palestine. I suspect that they’re moving into positions in the West Bank and waiting for a formal announcement of annexation to act. West Bank is much harder to operate in, many settlements and porous borders with Jordan, so they won’t be able to starve or bomb them out as easily

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      3. Emma

        Finkelstein is wrong. It’s a war and a genocide. It’s a war fight between unequal forces using completely different methods, but it is a war and Hamas is arguably winning. They’re still holding ground, effectively blowing up Israeli equipment and troops, and still have the hearts and minds of the people of Gaza.

        The presence of a war does not negate Israel’s genocidal war crimes, particularly against Palestinian civilians who are not combatants.

        Finkelstein is completely defeatist and he believes Israeli/MSM reporting about the battlefield conditions, when they’ve been repeatedly caught in lies. He’s still in white saviour mode and expect the international community to somehow save the Palestinians when everyone else already recognized that the outcome can only be determined on the battlefield, where IDF is doing badly against Hezbollah and Hamas (and the US against Yemen and will likely do worse against Iraqi resistance and Iran).

        Justin Podur and Jon Elmer had a good discussion of this starting at 59:30.

        https://youtu.be/p7fmqWVilYE?si=R7pziuaUMtYEBwPC

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        1. Emma

          Finkelstein claims to be a Maoist, but somehow managed to overlook how decolonial wars are fought and won. Hamas is following the playbook of Algeria and Vietnam and China (this discussion I think recently linked from NC is very insightful https://www.qiaocollective.com/articles/iron-wall-sinwar ), not replaying an Americanized notion of WWII yet again.

          Finkelstein admits that he doesn’t really understand military matters, yet continues to make his claims strongly and rudely against people who do, like Elijah Magnier. You would get a far better understanding of the situation on the ground by following Podur, Elmer, The Cradle, Shir Hever, or even someone like Larry Wilkerson who understand how insurgency warfare works.

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          1. Bazarov

            I’m not endorsing Finkelstein’s views, only paraphrasing them to give context to why South Africa may’ve pursued a genocide line before the ICJ and not a war crimes line.

            In his youth Finkelstein was Maoist for sure, but I don’t know that he’s a Maoist today.

            Again, while not endorsing Finkelstein’s views, which there’s reason (as you say) to be skeptical of, there’s significant historical differences between Algeria, Vietnam, China, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Gaza, not least of which the vast hinterlands the guerrillas retreat into among the former. Gaza is a narrow strip of land backed by the sea, with no friendly neighbors to aid them, a strip of land extremely easy to efficiently bomb due to its proximity to Israel’s settler core. The comparisons with those former strugglers seem superficial to me.

            The reverse of “defeatism,” which as you say Finkelstein could credibly be accused of, is “triumphalism,” which I think certain popular left commentators could credibly be accused of as well. For many, many months in breathless youtube videos I’ve heard how the Israelis are on the verge of defeat in Gaza. The situation does not seem so sanguine to me, though I have not made a determination one way or the other.

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  10. Alice X

    I may yet observe something of a Thanksgiving Day, but I will only be fully thankful when Palestine is free, and its oppressors are held accountable.

    These arrest warrants are but one stop along that road.

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    1. Kouros

      In his latest substack postin, Seymor Hersh asserts that Israel is weeks from announcing annexation of West Bank, Gaza, etc… And they will announce the end of the Apartheid as well (sarc). As such, Palestine will be free…

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      1. Alice X

        In the Electronic Intifada’s weekly Wednesday livestream of 11/13, Craig Mokhiber was interviewed, starting at 24:35. His point on Israeli annexation and the possibility, even likelyhood that Trump would recognize it, was that neither the US nor Israel can establish international law. The ICJ has ruled that the occupation is illegal. Furthermore, Joseph Massad points out the illegality of the Zionist Entity’s implementation of the original partition plan. In my view, all of Palestine is occupied illegally.

        Instead of recognising ‘Palestine’, countries should withdraw recognition of Israel
        Joseph Massad

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      2. Alice X

        And from Caitlin Johnstone:

        Today In Imperial Recklessness And Insanity

        clip:

        No such arrest warrants were issued for President Biden or any of the other western officials who’ve been backing Israel’s genocidal atrocities, which is a bit like a judge issuing a warrant for a mass murderer but not for the guy who gave him the gun and stood next to him handing him ammunition and drove the getaway car and lied to the police to cover up the crime.

        Nothing will come of this new development because it is completely unenforcible and international law is only as real as the US empire agrees to pretend it is, but it is a significant step in the deterioration of international consensus on Israel as the entire world watches the Zionist regime commit atrocity after atrocity right out in the open.

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  11. GuardYourHumanity

    Thomas Fazi makes an interesting point:

    Though the ICC doesn’t openly accuse Israel of genocide or extermination, it does say that it “created conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population in Gaza” and that “the population was targeted based on political and/or national grounds” — which is, of course, the very definition of genocide.

    https://www.thomasfazi.com/p/breaking-the-icc-issues-arrest-warrants

    (This comment Cross-posted from MoA)

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  12. The Rev Kev

    It occurs to me that the issuance of these ICC warrants may have been triggered by Trump’s re-election. Consider. He does not even take his oath of office for another two months but his government selections has packed full of Israeli Firsters, Israel supporters and even actual Israelis. You wonder if Netanyahu did some of these picks for him. So by getting these warrants out there, there is nothing that Trump can do to stop them as he does not have Presidential powers yet. The Biden regime may howl and rage but they are a dead duck regime right now and are on the way out. Call it a fait accompli. By the time Trump takes office these warrants will be just an established fact.

    It also occurs to me that the EU countries were quick off the mark saying that they will enforce these warrants which makes me suspect that they themselves are getting jack of the Israelis and their self-entitled opinions. That stunt that the Israelis set up in Amsterdam may have been the final straw for them and it should be noted that this happened in the same country that is the home of The Hague.

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    1. hoki_haya

      cynicism to the incoming Trump admin is warranted, and yet there is a window of opportunity for dialogue not seen in some time. the Sanders’ office, for example, is privately more enthusiastic about working with elements of the incoming admin than it would have been with a Harris triumph, no doubt of that. a sea-change has already occurred inside agencies, and there may be more to come.

      does this mean anyone’s arresting Bibi, anywhere? of course not. cosmetic. but indicative.

      absolutely clear to me that there’s no way to dialogue with any office outside of Sanders’, in America, regarding cutting support of the obscene acts committed by Israel. the hope – and ah, how we’ve had enough of that! – is that first, we drawdawn the Ukraine/NATO/RussiaRussiaRussia situation….and then dialogue about this insane bipartisan support for Israel. be cynical all we want; we have to work with what hope we may have.

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    2. Emma

      There are signs that the PTB are recognizing that Israel is in a hopeless quagmire in Gaza and Lebanon, and is at grave risk of triggering an empire ending war with Iran. Thus it is time to throw Bibi under the bus, make some kind of peace, and call it a win.

      The problem is that Israel is now already so saddled with debt, hated by its neighbors and anyone with a conscience, tens of thousands of bankrupt companies, tens of thousands of gravely injured and PTSD vets, and nobody feels safe there anymore.

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  13. Ghost in the Machine

    “South Africa reaffirms its commitment to international law and urges all state parties to act in accordance with their obligations in the Rome Statute. We call on the global community to uphold the rule of law and ensure accountability for human rights violations.”

    Yet, I am reading that South Africa is Israel’s largest supplier of coal.

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  14. Paul Greenwood

    Good ! Milosovic was arrested for matters he may not have been guilty of and ‚Epsteined‘ to avoid trial

    That was before ICC was created and now US can go on trial before the world for genocide and war crimes as it shields its agents in Tel Aviv

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  15. WillD

    Alleged crimes? Is there some doubt about the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Palestinian civilians massacred in Gaza? Are they suggesting perhaps that none of it happened, that it is misinformation – and not true?

    If so, I’d like to know where all of those people have gone, and just how exactly did all of those places become devastated ruins.

    What about the large numbers of social media posts, the first-hand testimonies, witnesses, victims, injuries, dead bodies, and other irrefutable evidence? Not to mention the attempts by Israel to prevent or destroy humanitarian aid? And even Israeli media reporting of genocidal intent by ministers and citizens.

    All well documented. Proven conclusively – ‘beyond reasonable doubt’! No uncorrupted court could fail to find the defendants guilty.

    For anyone to rationally, reasonably, realistically suggest that Netanyahu, as Israeli leader, is NOT guilty of horrendous crimes against humanity – needs serious mental health treatment.

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    1. Alice X

      Innocent until proven guilty is the language of the court, why have a trial if the prosecutor is also the executioner? The evidence is massive, as you note, yet the court must hear it and more. They will render a verdict and I sincerely hope they resist the headwinds of the empire. It must be, as with Nuremberg. irrefutable. Now to the arrests.

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