Make Israeli Rulers Accountable for War Crimes
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THE chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, has sought arrest warrants to be issued against Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant along with three Hamas leaders, including Ismail Haniyeh. The prosecutor has stated that there is enough evidence that the Israeli prime minister and defence minister have committed crimes against humanity and war crimes during the seven month-old war on Gaza. The prosecutor has stated that there are deliberate efforts to starve the civilian population of Gaza, leading to the deaths of women, children and men. In the case of Hamas leaders, the prosecutor has cited the atrocities committed against Israeli civilians during the October 7 attack.
The request by the prosecutor has to be approved by a judges’ bench of the ICC, but the prosecutor’s application is supported by the unanimous opinion of a panel of five leading jurists of international law.
Netanyahu has predictably responded with a furious attack calling it “a moral outrage of historic proportions” and calling Karim Khan as one of the “great anti-semites in modern times”. The defence minister, Gallant, described the arrest warrants as a “disgraceful” attempt to interfere in the war. President Joe Biden, the greatest supporter of Israel, has called the move of the chief prosecutor “outrageous” and stated that there was “no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas”.
The ICC is not a United Nations body like the International Court of Justice (ICJ). It is a treaty-based court which prosecutes individuals for serious crimes like genocide and crimes against humanity. The ICJ does not try cases against individuals but only states.
The ICC has so far been targeting leaders of Arab and African countries who have been adversaries of the United States and the West. Last year, it had issued a warrant against president Putin for alleged crimes committed in the war on Ukraine. As long as the ICC proceeded against leaders of countries who were against the United States and the West, there was no problem and the US and its western allies have been supportive of the ICC’s actions, even though the United States is not a signatory to the treaty setting up the court.
This is the first time that the ICC seeks to prosecute the leaders of a close ally of the United States. This has led to a howl of protests from the American ruling establishment. A group of Republican senators have, in cowboy style, announced: “Target Israel and we will target you…..You have been warned”. There is talk of imposing sanctions on the prosecutors and judges of the ICC.
The United Kingdom and Germany have expressed their disapproval of the ICC move but worryingly for the United States and Israel – France, Belgium and Slovenia – three countries of the European Union, have backed the decision of the ICC prosecutor.
The ongoing horrors of the war in Gaza have also resulted in cracks developing in the united stand of the western countries. Norway, Ireland and Spain have decided to recognize the Palestinian State. Both Belgium and Spain have decided to not allow arms exports to Israel.
Meanwhile, Israel is poised to launch a ground offensive in Rafah city after having given notice to civilians to vacate the eastern part of the city. More than 800,000 civilians, out of the 1.5 million sheltering in the Rafah area have now fled to central Gaza and other places. The ICC prosecutor’s charge that starvation is being used as a weapon by the Israelis has been confirmed by the announcement of the United Nations on May 21 that it has suspended food distribution in the city of Rafah due to lack of food supplies and insecurity.
The United States continues the diabolical policy of furbishing and rearming the Israeli army with lethal weapons while hypocritically calling upon Israel not to inflict civilian casualties when conducting operations in Rafah. The US Congress finally gave approval in the third week of April to Biden’s bill to provide $ 26 billion of military aid to Israel. If anything the ICC prosecutor should charge president Biden as an accessory to war crimes.
The Indian government is also playing a role, though minor compared to the US, in helping Israel’s military to commit war crimes. Last week, the Spanish government denied entry to a Denmark-flagged cargo ship that had sailed from Chennai and was headed to the Haifa port in Israel. It was reported to be carrying 27 tonnes of explosives. Spain, which has suspended arms exports to Israel, stated that the ship was not allowed to dock at the Cartagena port since the Spanish government does not want more weapons to reach the conflict zone in Israel where there are enormous civilian casualties.
The Indian government has not explained what sort of weapons were on board the ship and where it was sourced from. But the record shows that India is exporting arms to Israel. Some months ago, it was revealed that 20 Hermes military drones were exported to Israel from India. These drones were made at a joint venture factory set-up by the Adani group and Israel’s Elbit Systems. Echoing Biden, the Modi government has been making some noises about the high civilian casualties in Gaza while being complicit in arming Israel’s military forces.
The International Court of Justice is currently hearing a fresh petition of South Africa asking the court to take immediate provisional measures to halt the Israeli offensive in Rafah to avert a human catastrophe. South Africa and a group of countries have become the voice of the global south and firm defenders of justice for the Palestinian people. Modi’s India stands on the wrong side of history in this vital struggle.
(May 22, 2024)
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