.png "Twitter")
ICC Turns Global Spotlight with Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, and Deif
 |
| Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu |
In a largely symbolic move poised to reshape geopolitics, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader Mohammed Deif, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity amid Israel's ongoing war with Hamas.
While Israeli’s allies, led by the world’s superpower, United States, dismissed the warrants as “outrageous”, South Africa, which has taken Israeli to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on charges of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, welcomed them saying they are “a significant step towards justice for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Palestine.”
Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for South Africa’s International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola, emphasised the country’s unwavering commitment to international law, stating: “South Africa urges all state parties to honor their obligations under the Rome Statute. We call on the global community to uphold the rule of law and demand accountability for human rights violations.”
This announcement followed the ICC’s declaration on Thursday, November 21, that its Pre-Trial Chamber I had issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, citing crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from October 8, 2023, to May 20, 2024 - the date the prosecution submitted its applications.
“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,” the ICC said in a statement.
The Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant “each bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.
“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 ICC said.
“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.”
There were reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and 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”.
 |
| Yoav Gallant and Benjamin Netanyahu |
In a curt statement Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden condemned the ICC warrants, stating: “The ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”
The U.S. is a staunch ally of Israel in the Middle East. Netanyahu was among the first world leaders to congratulate U.S. president-elect Donald Trump on his decisive victory over Kamala Harris.
 |
| Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu |
Congressman Brad Sherman criticised the ICC's ruling, calling it "absurd" and a "final blow" to the court's legitimacy. “Israel is fighting a legitimate war that it did not start against adversaries that pledge to destroy Israel and eradicate its people. There is no more just cause for war than this one. Hamas fights from neighborhoods, schools, and hospitals as a practice to maximize civilian casualties in order to turn public opinion against Israel," Sherman said.
"Hamas openly admits this. Not only did today's ICC's decision transform it into a kangaroo court, it rewarded Hamas' tactics. By rewarding Hamas's use of human shields, the ICC today ensures that Hamas and other terror groups double down on this brutal tactic.”
Sherman said the ICC decision “guarantees that wars will only become more deadly, because terror groups see that the use of human shields is a winning tactic”.
“Given this outrageous perversion of justice and abetting of Hamas's tactics by the ICC, I believe the U.S. must act swiftly to sanction the ICC. We cannot allow the politicized distortion of international law and institutions go without consequence,” he said.
 |
| Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump |
The Israeli leader said: “The antisemitic decision of the international court in The Hague is a modern Dreyfus trial, and it will end the same way. One hundred and thirty years ago, the French Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus was falsely accused of treason by a biased French court.
In response of these false accusations, the great French writer Émile Zola wrote his monumental essay, J’Accuse.
He accused the French court of antisemitic lies against an innocent officer, who was later exonerated of all guilt. Now, an international court in The Hague, also headed by a French judge, is repeating this outrageous offense.
It is falsely accusing me, the democratically elected prime minister of the State of Israel and Israel’s former defense minister Yoav Gallant, of deliberately targeting civilians, this when we do everything in our power to avoid civilian casualties.
We issue millions of text messages, phone calls, leaflets to the citizens of Gaza to get them out of harm's way – while the Hamas terrorists do everything in their power to keep them in harm’s way, including shooting them, using them as human shields.
The court in The Hague accuses us of a deliberate policy of starvation. This, when we have supplied Gaza with 700,000 tons of food to feed the people of Gaza. That’s 3,200 calories for every man, woman and child in Gaza.
And these supplies are routinely looted by Hamas terrorists, who deprive their people of much needed food.
Yet just in the last few weeks Israel facilitated the vaccination of 97 percent of the people of Gaza against polio. This doesn’t prevent the court of accusing us of genocide.
What in God’s name are they talking about in The Hague?
The truth is simple. No war is more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza after Hamas attacked us unprovoked, launching the worst massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
The decision to issue an arrest warrant against me, the democratically elected prime minister of the State of Israel, and our former defense minister was made by a rogue prosecutor who is trying to extricate himself from sexual harassment charges, and by biased judges who are motivated by antisemitic sentiments against the one and only Jewish state.
These judges did nothing, they did nothing, against the real war crimes committed against the millions who have been murdered or uprooted by the dictatorships in Iran, Syria and Yemen.
Instead, they falsely accuse the one democracy in the Middle East, Israel, thereby imperiling the right of all democracies to defend themselves against murderous terrorists and tyrants.
Nor did the court do anything against the Hamas terrorists who raped our women, beheaded our men, burned babies alive in front of their parents and kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children to the underground dungeons of Gaza. They’re still holding 101 hostages, citizens of many lands, including the United States.
Come to think of it, the court did issue one arrest warrant against Hamas.
Now hear this. They issued an arrest warrant against the corpse of the Hamas arch-terrorist, Muhammad Deif. His corpse.
What an absurdity.
No biased anti-Israel decision in The Hague will prevent the State of Israel from defending its citizens.
I want to thank our many friends around the world, especially those in the United States, who have condemned this outrage and who have said this decision will have severe consequences for the ICC and those who cooperate with its decision.
Israel does not, Israel will not recognize the validity of this decision. We will continue to do everything we must do to defend our citizens and to defend our state against Iran’s axis of terror. Iran and its terrorist proxies, which include Hamas, Hezbollah the Houthis and others. Our enemies are your enemies, and our victory will be your victory, the victory of civilization over barbarism and tyranny.”
He accused the French court of antisemitic lies against an innocent officer, who was later exonerated of all guilt. Now, an international court in The Hague, also headed by a French judge, is repeating this outrageous offense.
It is falsely accusing me, the democratically elected prime minister of the State of Israel and Israel’s former defense minister Yoav Gallant, of deliberately targeting civilians, this when we do everything in our power to avoid civilian casualties.
We issue millions of text messages, phone calls, leaflets to the citizens of Gaza to get them out of harm's way – while the Hamas terrorists do everything in their power to keep them in harm’s way, including shooting them, using them as human shields.
The court in The Hague accuses us of a deliberate policy of starvation. This, when we have supplied Gaza with 700,000 tons of food to feed the people of Gaza. That’s 3,200 calories for every man, woman and child in Gaza.
And these supplies are routinely looted by Hamas terrorists, who deprive their people of much needed food.
Yet just in the last few weeks Israel facilitated the vaccination of 97 percent of the people of Gaza against polio. This doesn’t prevent the court of accusing us of genocide.
What in God’s name are they talking about in The Hague?
The truth is simple. No war is more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza after Hamas attacked us unprovoked, launching the worst massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
The decision to issue an arrest warrant against me, the democratically elected prime minister of the State of Israel, and our former defense minister was made by a rogue prosecutor who is trying to extricate himself from sexual harassment charges, and by biased judges who are motivated by antisemitic sentiments against the one and only Jewish state.
These judges did nothing, they did nothing, against the real war crimes committed against the millions who have been murdered or uprooted by the dictatorships in Iran, Syria and Yemen.
Instead, they falsely accuse the one democracy in the Middle East, Israel, thereby imperiling the right of all democracies to defend themselves against murderous terrorists and tyrants.
Nor did the court do anything against the Hamas terrorists who raped our women, beheaded our men, burned babies alive in front of their parents and kidnapped hundreds of men, women and children to the underground dungeons of Gaza. They’re still holding 101 hostages, citizens of many lands, including the United States.
Come to think of it, the court did issue one arrest warrant against Hamas.
Now hear this. They issued an arrest warrant against the corpse of the Hamas arch-terrorist, Muhammad Deif. His corpse.
What an absurdity.
No biased anti-Israel decision in The Hague will prevent the State of Israel from defending its citizens.
I want to thank our many friends around the world, especially those in the United States, who have condemned this outrage and who have said this decision will have severe consequences for the ICC and those who cooperate with its decision.
Israel does not, Israel will not recognize the validity of this decision. We will continue to do everything we must do to defend our citizens and to defend our state against Iran’s axis of terror. Iran and its terrorist proxies, which include Hamas, Hezbollah the Houthis and others. Our enemies are your enemies, and our victory will be your victory, the victory of civilization over barbarism and tyranny.”
 |
| Senator Lindsey Graham and Gallant |
Gallant said the ICC's "outrageous decision will live in infamy - it places the State of Israel and the brutal terrorist organization Hamas, in the same equation", adding it legitimises and rewards the "murder, rape and kidnapping of Israeli children, women, and men".
"It also sets a dangerous precedent for democracies around the world in their fight against terrorism. The State of Israel will not be deterred - long gone are the days when the nation of Israel could not defend itself. The IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] will continue fighting to achieve the goals of this war: dismantling Hamas, ensuring the return of the hostages, and enabling Israel’s northern communities to return to their homes.
"I am proud of the extraordinary privilege I had in leading Israel’s defense establishment during our hardest hour - fighting a war on seven fronts. I stand by our troops who will continue to operate at the highest professional and moral levels while defending the State of Israel."
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, in a media briefing on December 5 to communicate the outcomes of the cabinet meeting held on December 4, said: "Cabinet welcomes the warrants of arrest issued by the International Criminal Court for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant, and Mohammed Deif of Hamas. These actions mark a significant step towards justice for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Palestine. 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."
The arrest warrants have ignited a storm of accusations and divisions on the global stage: From claims of antisemitism to warnings of emboldened terrorism, the ICC decision has left no middle ground. For some, it marks a historic step toward justice, and for others, it undermines the legitimacy of international law.
As geopolitical tensions rise, the question looms: can the rule of law stand firm, or will it buckle under the weight of political agendas?
Comments
Post a Comment