Israeli PM and ministers in panic mode, denouncing move
Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, has asked the Court to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant, telling the ICC that there are reasonable grounds to believe that they bear criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity since at least 7 October last year.
However, in what appears to be yet another instance of the ‘both-sidesing’ that treats oppressor and oppressed as equivalent, Khan has also requested warrants for Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar and military chief Mohammed Deif, repeating against them Israeli allegations of rape that have long been debunked and discredited, including by Khan’s UN colleagues who investigated Israel’s claims.
Israeli government spokespeople are already publicly attacking Khan and appealing again to the US to help kill the warrants. On 30 April, Netanhyahu described the possibility of warrants as an ‘outrage of historical proportions’. Israel is not a signatory to the ICC, but if warrants are issued every country that is would have a legal obligation to arrest him and Gallant if they enter their jurisdiction, and deliver them to The Hague. The UK would, of course, be likely to ignore this obligation as it has its obligations under the Genocide Convention to intervene in Israel’s slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
Israel has so far murdered at least 40,000 people, mostly women and children, in Gaza and maimed double that number. However, some estimates put the death toll at over 100,000.
SKWAWKBOX needs your help. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (SKWAWKBOX will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount). Thanks for your solidarity so SKWAWKBOX can keep doing its job.
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.