Robert Williams
Gatestone, Dec. 10, 2024
“Israel-bashing is a reliable way to divert attention and pressure. For Mr. Khan it brought acclaim from the left, which dominates international legal circles.”
On November 21, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and, apparently to pretend to look “balanced,” three Arab terrorists, one of whom was dead.
ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, originally a British barrister, appealed to all ICC member states to do the court’s bidding and arrest Netanyahu and Gallant, and said in a statement:
“[T]he judges of the International Criminal Court have found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that each [Netanyahu and Gallant] has committed the war crime of using starvation as a method of warfare and crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts, as a direct perpetrator, acting jointly with others. The Chamber also found reasonable grounds to believe that they are each responsible for the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against civilians as a superior.”
Never mind that Israel is not a state party to the ICC and that the court therefore has no jurisdiction whatsoever over the matter; never mind that the accusation against Israel of using starvation as a means of war is a proven falsehood that has been repeatedly discredited, including by the UN itself; never mind that the lie that Israel targets civilians has been repeatedly debunked — White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told reporters last April:
“The State Department… have not found any incidents where the Israelis have violated international humanitarian law. And lest you think we don’t take it seriously, I can assure you that we do. We look at this in real time.”
John Spencer, a leading international expert on urban warfare who is the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute of the United States Military Academy (West Point), has repeatedly stressed that Israel goes to unprecedented lengths to avoid civilian casualties and is unique in that sense in the entire history of warfare.
None of these facts mattered, however, because the ICC decision was not about justice or upholding “international law.” Then what was it about? Several things: ….SOURCE
