Netanyahu: A Step Closer to Justice

Karim Khan, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, applied for arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the genocide perpetrated in Gaza. Those named in Khan’s application include Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, plus Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri (Deif) and Ismail Haniyeh. Khan accuses the officials in Tel Aviv of using starvation as a weapon of war, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population and committing extermination. He likewise accused the members of the Islamic movement of extermination, as well as of rape and other forms of sexual assault and of taking hostages as a war crime.

If the judges grant Khan’s requests, the persons named would risk arrest in the 124 countries where the ICC has jurisdiction. Although Tel Aviv and its main ally, Washington, are not parties to the Rome Statute, the treaty under which the Court was established, Netanyahu doesn’t need to leave Israel to face criminal charges: He is under investigation for corruption in Israel, and his opponents point to the wish to evade justice as the principal motivation behind his attempt to cling to power.

The defense that Netanyahu, U.S. President Joe Biden and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken are trying out confirms the accuracy of the prosecutor’s position. How dare he equate the monsters of Hamas with the Israeli army, the most ethical in the world, the prime minister demanded. Never mind that the prosecutor suggests Israel and Hamas are in no way comparable; Biden maintains for his part that Hamas is a violent terrorist organization that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and still holds dozens of innocent hostages. These statements reveal the basis for the genocide perpetrated by Tel Aviv with Washington’s unconditional support — the racist doctrine according to which Palestinian lives have an incomparably smaller value, or even no value, so the annihilation of Palestinians cannot be compared to that of Israeli citizens. If the murder of 1,250 Israelis makes the members of Hamas monsters and violent terrorists, how can we describe those who have massacred 35,000 Palestinians, wounded 79,000, starved an unknown number to death, razed 175,000 buildings and forced a million people to abandon their homes? If the kidnapping of 250 people by Hamas is indefensible (as it undeniably is), what can be said of the succession of Israeli governments that have held an entire country hostage since 1948?

As it has been for decades, every time that Israeli atrocities are pointed out, the reactions of the Zionists are focused on discrediting all criticisms as antisemitic, although they are fully backed up by facts. That version of the events is absurd in the face of the power asymmetry between the colonial power and the Palestinian resistance. One side is well-armed with fighter planes, tanks and an endless supply of missiles, in addition to its nuclear arsenal. The other side is fighting with rifles from a century ago, homemade missiles or just rocks. Under the present circumstances, Khan’s impartial approach, blaming the leaders of both groups for the ongoing barbarity, makes this interpretation of the situation even more insupportable, if possible.

It is imperative that the ICC judges issue the required arrest warrants; if they don’t, it would be a devastating blow to the hope of stopping the genocide against the Palestinian people. If successful, Khan’s request would strengthen international law and would represent a first concrete step by the world community to put an end to the massacre. It would also give undeniable support to the establishment of sanctions issued by the United Nations that might lead Tel Aviv to abandon its homicidal colonialism and sit down to negotiate the only acceptable outcome: building a sovereign Palestinian state, in conformity with international law, in Gaza and all of the West Bank, with its capital in East Jerusalem.