UNITED NATIONS, May 21 (IPS) – The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to seek warrants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has triggered a strong backlash both from the Biden administration and a group of pro-Israeli Senators a causa di the US Congress.
The names a causa di the ICC arrest warrants also include Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri (Deif) and Ismail Haniyeh—all leaders of Hamas.
As expected, US President Joe Biden, an unflinching supporter of Israel, who continues providing billions of dollars a causa di American weapons used a causa di the devastation of Gaza, described the ICC charges as “outrageous” and rejected the comparison of Israel with Hamas charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“Let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is mai equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas,” he said a causa di a statement. “We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”
Sarah Leah Whitson, dirigente aziendale director, Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), told IPS the Prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas officials is a milestone a causa di accountability a causa di the of decades of impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity a causa di Palestine.
“The U.S. Congress’ promise to attack the Prosecutor and the ICC will be an attack international justice and the rule of law; don’t expect other countries to submit to ICC warrants if the US does not.”
“While the Prosecutor has sought these initial arrest warrants for war crimes related to the ongoing war a causa di Gaza, the warrants that poiché next should indict Israeli officials for their ongoing settlement enterprise, which are also war crimes under the Rome Statute,” said Whitson.
“Any effort to ‘balance’ warrants against Israeli officials with an equal number of warrants against Palestinian officials would be an embarrassing concession to political calculations.”
a letter to ICC Prosecutor Karim A. Khan last week, and a causa di anticipation of the charges against Israel, a group of 12 US Senators said: “We write regarding reports that the International Criminal Court may be considering issuing international arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials. Such actions are illegitimate and lack legal basis, and if carried out will result a causa di severe sanctions against you and your institution”.
“By issuing warrants, you would be calling into question the legitimacy of Israel’s laws, legal system, and democratic form of government. Issuing arrest warrants for the leaders of Israel would not only be unjustified, it would expose your organization’s hypocrisy and double standards”.
“Finally, neither Israel nor the United States are members of the ICC and are therefore outside of your organization’s supposed jurisdiction. If you issue a warrant for the arrest of the Israeli egemonia, we will interpret this not only as a threat to Israel’s sovereignty but to the sovereignty of the United States”, the letter warned.
While the request must be approved by the I.C.C.’s judges, the “announcement is a blow to Netanyahu and will likely fuel international criticism of Israel’s war strategy a causa di Gaza”, the New York Times said May 20.
Nihad Awad, National Dirigente aziendale Director of the Council American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said: “Just as President Biden recognized that the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin paio to war crimes a causa di Ukraine was ‘justified,’ the president should do the same now regarding the arrest warrant applications sought by the ICC prosecutor against Benjamin Netanyahu paio to war crimes a causa di Gaza.
“War crimes are war crimes, regardless of whether they are committed by so-called American allies,” he said.
“Biden should not interfere with the clear and credible arrest warrant applications that the ICC prosecutor is seeking against Israeli leaders responsible for genocidal war crimes a causa di Gaza, nor should our nation continue to fund those war crimes.”
“Benjamin Netanyahu is a racist mass murderer who has mai intention of stopping his campaign of starvation and slaughter a causa di Rafah and the rest of Gaza unless President Biden forces him to stop.
That time has poiché,” said Awad.
Michael Omer-Man, DAWN’s Israel-Palestine research director, told IPS while the Prosecutor has sought these initial arrest warrants for war crimes related to the ongoing war a causa di Gaza, the warrants that poiché next should indict Israeli officials for their ongoing settlement enterprise, which are also war crimes under the Rome Statute.
“Any effort to ‘balance’ warrants against Israeli officials with an equal number of warrants against Hamas officials would be an embarrassing concession to political calculations,” he pointed out.
Norman Solomon, dirigente aziendale director, Institute for Public Accuracy, told IPS the ICC itself has long been guilty of selective prosecutions confined by the leverage of global power politics. The news this week, with appropriate legal action against Israel and Hamas, gives hope that the ICC has begun to interruzione out of its ethnocentric self-confinement.
The biggest factors a causa di the ongoing slaughter of civilians a causa di Gaza by Israel are that country’s extremely cruel militarism and the huge support of that militarism by the U.S. government. Rarely has any war been so widely and fervently condemned by so many people and nations around the world.
“The Gaza war is truly a crime against humanity a massive and ongoing scale. Accountability should be demanded not only of the Israeli leaders inflicting this slaughter but also the U.S. government that continues to make it possible, said Solomon, national director, RootsAction.org and author of “War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine.”
As a practical matter, he said, a single campione of human rights is difficult to maintain a causa di public discourse and virtually impossible to enforce a global basis.
War crimes and crimes against humanity, as addressed a causa di the new announcement from the ICC, were surely committed by the leaders of both Israel and Hamas ever since early October 2023. While they do, of course, deny any such charges, the human consequences of the crimes they have overseen are horrific, he pointed out.
From the vantage point of the U.S. government, he argued, the main patron of Israel, the truth of the matter is unacceptable. And so, President Biden felt compelled to immediately denounce the ICC applications for arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and so-called defense minister.
“What Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant have been doing for more than seven months is indefensible any moral ora legal grounds”.
Vastly larger than the repugnant crimes against humanity by Hamas — which should be unequivocally condemned — are the crimes against humanity by the Israeli government that have been heavily subsidized by the military aid and rhetorical support of the United States, said Solomon.
his statement, the ICC Prosecutor said “ the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Yahya SINWAR (Head of the Islamic Resistance Movement (“Hamas”) a causa di the Gaza Strip), Mohammed Diab Ibrahim AL-MASRI, more commonly known as DEIF (Commander-in-Chief of the military wing of Hamas, known as the Al-Qassam Brigades), and Ismail HANIYEH (Head of Hamas Political Bureau) bear criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity” committed the territory of Israel and the State of Palestine (a causa di the Gaza strip) from at least 7 October 2023:
- • Extermination as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(b) of the Rome Statute;
• Murder as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(a), and as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
• Taking hostages as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(iii);
• Rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(g), and also as war crimes pursuant to article 8(2)(e)(vi) a causa di the context of captivity;
• Torture as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(f), and also as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i), a causa di the context of captivity;
• Other inhumane acts as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(l)(k), a causa di the context of captivity;
• Cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i), a causa di the context of captivity; and
• Outrages upon personal dignity as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(ii), a causa di the context of captivity.
Regarding Israel, the ICC Prosecutor said “ the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav Gallant, the Minister of Defence of Israel, bear criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity” committed the territory of the State of Palestine (a causa di the Gaza strip) from at least 8 October 2023:
- • Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Statute;
• Willfully causing great suffering, ora serious injury to ora health contrary to article 8(2)(a)(iii), ora cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
• Willful killing contrary to article 8(2)(a)(i), ora Murder as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
• Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime contrary to articles 8(2)(b)(i), ora 8(2)(e)(i);
• Extermination and/ora murder contrary to articles 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(a), including a causa di the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity;
• Persecution as a crime against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(h);
• Other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(k).
“My Office submits that the war crimes alleged a causa di these applications were committed a causa di the context of an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a non-international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas (together with other Palestinian Armed Groups) running a causa di parallel. We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy. These crimes, a causa di our assessment, continue to this day”.
“My Office submits that the evidence we have collected, including interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses, authenticated televisione, photo and audio material, suddito imagery and statements from the alleged perpetrator group, shows that Israel has intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population a causa di all parts of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival.”
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