Genocide? Demonstrators call for the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel’s attacks on Gaza, The Hague, Netherlands, 18 October 2023
Abdullah Asiran · Anadolu · Getty
Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on 20 May, ‘This court is built for Africa and for thugs like Putin, was what one senior leader told me.’ He was describing reactions to his request for warrants to arrest three Hamas leaders – Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab, Ibrahim Al-Masri (known as Deif) and Ismail Haniyeh – along with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his defence minister Yoav Galant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Elected officials of a democratic country have never faced such a demand: US president Joe Biden called it ‘outrageous’ and several Republican politicians threatened retaliation against the court. Meanwhile, Netanyahu responded with fury to the news of the possible warrant for his arrest, reaffirming that nothing would stand in the way of Israel’s ‘legitimate defence’ operations.
The ICC, which was inspired by the Nuremberg trials and the parallel process in Tokyo, charges individuals regardless of their political or diplomatic status, whereas the International Court of Justice (ICJ) judges cases involving states. Two simultaneous but separate procedures before these Hague-based institutions are focused on the war in Gaza that followed the massacres of 7 October 2023. In South Africa’s case against Israel, based on the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. the ICJ has already issued three orders to Israel to implement provisional measures to prevent genocide. The weight of history, the nature of the accused (leaders of a state that exists due to a genocide), the number of civilian victims and the scale of the devastation inflicted on Gaza have provoked major international tensions, extensive popular protest movements and intense political disagreements in many countries.
These unprecedented proceedings contain three important points. First, while the international justice system has been in the spotlight before, (…)
Full article: 2 013 words.
This article can be read by subscribers
(2) The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the World Food Programme (WFP), the UNHCR (now known as the Refugee Agency), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
(3) ‘The Elders warn that failures of political leadership risk collapse of international order’, 29 May 2024, www.theelders.org/.
(6) ‘Top experts’ views of International Court of Justice ruling on Israel Gaza operations (South Africa v Israel, Genocide convention case)’, 26 January 2024, www.justsecurity.org/.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
