On November 21, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and, apparently to pretend to look "balanced," three Arab terrorists, one of whom was dead.
ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, originally a British barrister, appealed to all ICC member states to do the court's bidding and arrest Netanyahu and Gallant, and said in a statement:
"[T]he judges of the International Criminal Court have found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that each [Netanyahu and Gallant] has committed the war crime of using starvation as a method of warfare and crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts, as a direct perpetrator, acting jointly with others. The Chamber also found reasonable grounds to believe that they are each responsible for the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against civilians as a superior."
Never mind that Israel is not a state party to the ICC and that the court therefore has no jurisdiction whatsoever over the matter; never mind that the accusation against Israel of using starvation as a means of war is a proven falsehood that has been repeatedly discredited, including by the UN itself; never mind that the lie that Israel targets civilians has been repeatedly debunked -- White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told reporters last April:
"The State Department... have not found any incidents where the Israelis have violated international humanitarian law. And lest you think we don't take it seriously, I can assure you that we do. We look at this in real time."
John Spencer, a leading international expert on urban warfare who is the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute of the United States Military Academy (West Point), has repeatedly stressed that Israel goes to unprecedented lengths to avoid civilian casualties and is unique in that sense in the entire history of warfare.
None of these facts mattered, however, because the ICC decision was not about justice or upholding "international law." Then what was it about? Several things:
ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan surprisingly first announced his application for the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant on May 20, while cancelling a visit to Israel on that same day, where he was to have conducted preliminary meetings with Israeli officials to hear their positions on the matter. This was after he had told a group of US Senators that he "wouldn't rush to judgment before engaging with Israel."
What happened? In the two weeks preceding his announcement, Khan became familiar with allegations against him of sexual misconduct towards a female lawyer who worked directly for him. A whistleblower told Khan that he knew about the sexual misconduct and Khan responded in apparent shock that he, Khan, was "finished and will need to resign." Instead of resigning, however, he reportedly threatened both the whistleblower and the victim to not press the matter further. And then he decided to announce the application for arrest warrants, completely blindsiding Israel in the process. The Wall Street Journal wrote on October 23:
"Israel-bashing is a reliable way to divert attention and pressure. For Mr. Khan it brought acclaim from the left, which dominates international legal circles. The ICC kept quiet about the harassment allegation for more than five months until an anonymous Twitter account brought it to light last week."
Facing the leak and a request from the Hungarian government for an external investigation into Khan's alleged sexual misconduct, Reuters published a report on November 9, saying that Khan would face an external investigation of the allegations against him. An internal document circulated to member states by ICC staff called on Khan to step down temporarily from his role at the ICC while the investigation was ongoing.
"The prosecutor should step aside with immediate effect to pave the way for an independent investigation," the document said.
Khan, again, did not step down. Instead, the ICC's pre-trial chamber, miraculously, barely two weeks after this damning news, came to Khan's rescue and issued the baseless arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant -- and presumably to try to pretend it was "balanced," against a dead Hamas terrorist leader, Mohammed Deif -- thereby completely burying Kahn's sexual misconduct case in the news cycle. Israel-bashing is indeed the best diversion.
Putting Khan's personal issues aside, the arrest warrants represent an unprecedented power-grab by the ICC, appropriating for itself the power to politicize a country's right to self-defense, thereby turning on their heads the very rules of international law that the court purports to honor. The ICC has officially become a rogue international actor that can be solicited by powerful dictatorships into doing their bidding. Why, by the way, did both Khan and ICC President Piotr Hofmanski meet with Qatar's ambassador to the Netherlands last year? Surely Qatar had nothing to do with influencing the decision to issue the arrest warrants?
MEMRI reported in January 2024:
"It should be noted that, in light of the calls to prosecute Israel at the ICC, Qatar's news agency reported that the Qatari Ambassador to the Netherlands, Mutlaq bin Majed Al-Qahtani, met with ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan on November 2, 2023 to discuss the escalation in the Gaza Strip and a number of other issues of common interest. About one month later, on December 5, 2023, the news agency reported that Al-Qahtani had also met with ICC President Piotr Hofmanski to exchange views on issues of common interest and discuss the latest developments in Gaza,"
The ICC arrest warrants are the final proof that the entire international system is beyond broken. Between South Africa's baseless case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant by the ICC, justice, accountability and the upholding of international law lie in shambles, as the obsession with the world's only Jewish state continues for the benefit of the world's actual war criminals.
If the ICC were concerned with justice, especially for Palestinians, it would have issued arrest warrants against Syria's former President Bashar Al-Assad, a suggestion made more than a decade ago, in 2012, at the beginning of the civil war in Syria, by former ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. He urged the ICC to adopt an "innovative" approach to stop the bloodshed in Syria by having the ICC indict Assad with an arrest warrant carried out by NATO forces. Apparently the only time the ICC wants to be "innovative" is when it comes to persecuting Jews.
The ICC, evidently hankering to put Israeli leaders behind bars for fabricated crimes against Palestinians, has not the slightest inkling of desire to do anything about the real atrocities committed by Assad against Palestinians living in Syria.
This is the first time that the ICC issued an arrest warrant for a democratically-elected leader from a free country with a viable judicial system. What is remarkable is that no arrest warrants to date have been issued for any of the following actual war criminals: China's President Xi Jinping for his genocidal acts against Tibetans and Uyghurs; Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for his murderous treatment of Iranians and minorities in his country; or Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who just days ago bombed the Kurds in north-east Syrian Kurdistan again. The bombings cut off access to water and electricity for more than a million Kurds, who are already living in an area hit by drought.
According to the BBC, Turkey conducted more than 100 attacks on Syrian Kurdistan between October 2019 and January 2024. These strikes deliberately targeted oil and gas facilities and power stations vital to civilians in the region. You will never have heard about it -- the UN, most of the legacy media and "human rights" organizations have not said a word. No one cares: no Jews were involved.
Turkey also backed the assortment of Jihadist terrorist groups, including ISIS and Al Qaeda, that toppled the Bashar Assad 's regime in Syria this month, bringing Erdogan a step closer, at least geographically, to his long-term goal: "liberate Jerusalem from the Jews."
The ICC has arrogated to itself the kind of power that no world court should have: The power to issue arrest warrants against anyone they dislike, with whose policies they disagree and whom the global elites wish to shut down, regardless of national sovereignty. The ICC now considers itself to be above the law, and is being encouraged to come for whomever it wants, whether they are part of the ICC treaty or not.
This illegitimate court has elevated state sponsors of terrorism, such as Iran and Qatar; has enabled their proxies, such as Hamas, and is guaranteeing more future bloodshed and instability. It is, in short, a disaster. Not to the European Union, however, which welcomed the decision by the ICC. The EU's then foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said last month during a visit to Jordan:
"It is not a political decision. It is a decision of a court... of an international court of justice. And the decision of the court has to be respected and implemented."
Borrell added on X:
"I take note of the decision of the @IntlCrimCourt to issue arrest warrants for Israel PM Netanyahu, former Minister Gallant, and Hamas leader Deif.
"These decisions are binding on all States party to the Rome Statute, which includes all EU Member States."
The Netherlands, recently the scene of a jihadist pogrom against Jewish soccer fans in Amsterdam by Arabs, immediately announced its intention to comply with the arrest warrant. The Netherlands will "follow the instructions. If Netanyahu or Gallant land, they will be arrested," Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said.
Ireland, noted as "the most anti-Israel country" in Europe, also declared itself ready to comply -- with "urgency" no less.
"Ireland respects the role of the International Criminal Court. Anyone in a position to assist it in carrying out its vital work must now do so with urgency," Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris declared in a statement.
Belgium sounded positively gleeful, with its foreign ministry posting on X:
"The fight against impunity wherever crimes are committed is a priority for Belgium, which fully supports the work of the @IntlCrimCourt .
"Those responsible for crimes committed in Israel and Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of who committed them."
Italy's Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said that, while he believed the ICC was "wrong" to put Netanyahu and Gallant on the same level as Hamas, if either "were to come to Italy, we would have to arrest them."
In the UK, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said the government respected the court and refused to rule out that Netanyahu would be arrested in the UK. "We respect the independence of the ICC," the spokesman said.
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also endorsed the ICC arrest warrants. When asked if he would allow the arrest of Netanyahu and Gallant on Canadian soil, he replied:
"We stand up for international law and we will abide by all the regulations and rulings of the international courts. This is just who we are as Canadians."
In the US, on the other hand, political leaders from both sides of the aisle condemned the arrest warrants. US President Joe Biden denounced the ICC decision as "outrageous," saying in his first statement on the issue:
"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."
US Senate Republican Leader-elect John Thune posted on X:
"The ICC's arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant is outrageous, unlawful, and dangerous. Leader Schumer should bring a bill to the floor sanctioning the ICC. If he chooses not to act, the new Senate Republican majority next year will."
US Senator Tom Cotton probably spoke for many when he posted on X:
"The ICC is a kangaroo court and Karim Khan is a deranged fanatic. Woe to him and anyone who tries to enforce these outlaw warrants. Let me give them all a friendly reminder: the American law on the ICC is known as The Hague Invasion Act for a reason. Think about it."
In Europe and throughout the rest of the world only few stood out as having understood the dangerous precedent of the ICC decision. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, condemned the decision saying in an interview, saying that the ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu is "an outrageously brazen, I would say cynical decision."
"This is fundamentally wrong. This is a complete discrediting of international law. I will extend an invitation to the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Netanyahu, to visit Hungary. I will guarantee him that if he comes, the international court's verdict will have no effect in Hungary, and we will not adhere to its provisions his freedom and safety."
Orban also wrote on X:
"The ICC arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu is brazen, cynical and completely unacceptable. I invited Prime Minister Netanyahu for an official visit to Hungary, where we will guarantee his freedom and safety."
Argentina, led by President Javier Milei, issued an extraordinary declaration in defense of Israel that is rarely seen in international politics:
"The Argentine Republic expresses its deep disagreement with the recent decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants...Criminalizing the legitimate defense of a nation while omitting these atrocities is an act that distorts the spirit of international justice. Argentina stands in solidarity with Israel, reaffirms its right to protect its people and demands the immediate release of all hostages..."
Milei followed up the declaration with a statement saying in a televised statement:
"We are advancing a memorandum with Israel—a bilateral alliance for freedom, democracy, and against terrorism and dictatorships. While others ally with Iran, we ally with Israel.
Netanyahu denounced the arrest warrants as antisemitic and a modern-day version of the Dreyfus trial in France. The ICC decision to issue an arrest warrant against him, however, will have far more extensive ramifications than any Dreyfus trial could have had. While the Dreyfus trial was about injustice towards the Jews, the ICC decision will bring injustice worldwide – to anyone who crosses the corrupt agendas of the ICC.
Robert Williams is based in the United States.
Michael Stevens