International Criminal Court Shows Its Hand!

No one is above the law. All parties will be held responsible.

We await the reaction from President Joe Biden, Congress and the junk food media.

Obviously, Republicans are going to be fuming. But expect some Democrats to he fuming as well. They will literally go beyond the pale to protect this foreign country from accountability. The Republicans have already threatened retaliation if the International Criminal Court issued warrants to the Israeli government.

Oh they will be crying for Hamas to be indicted and the Israelis will claim antisemitism or an act of war. Hell I can imagine that the Mossad will try to conduct a mission in the Netherlands to take out prosecutor Karim A. A. Khan.

The ICC has officially launched a criminal investigation into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The indictments include intentionally depriving and starving civilians, destroying the resources of survival and continuing an illegally conducted war. Hamas was not spared either.

The regime is angry. Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant denounced the indictments and called the ICC antisemitic.

On the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Benjamin NETANYAHU, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav GALLANT, the Minister of Defence of Israel, bear criminal responsibility for  the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 8 October 2023:

• Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Statute;
• Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health contrary to article 8(2)(a)(iii), or cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
• Wilful killing contrary to article 8(2)(a)(i), or Murder as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
• Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime contrary to articles 8(2)(b)(i), or 8(2)(e)(i);
• Extermination and/or murder contrary to articles 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(a), including in the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity;
• Persecution as a crime against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(h);
• Other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(k).

On the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Yahya SINWAR (Head of the Islamic Resistance Movement (“Hamas”) in the Gaza Strip), Mohammed Diab Ibrahim AL-MASRI, more commonly known as DEIF (Commander-in-Chief of the military wing of Hamas, known as the Al-Qassam Brigades), and Ismail HANIYEH (Head of Hamas Political Bureau) bear criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of Israel and the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 7 October 2023: 

• Extermination as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(b) of the Rome Statute;
• Murder as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(a), and as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
• Taking hostages as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(iii);
• Rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(g), and also as war crimes pursuant to article 8(2)(e)(vi) in the context of captivity;
• Torture as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(f), and also as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i), in the context of captivity;
• Other inhumane acts as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(l)(k), in the context of captivity;
• Cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i), in the context of captivity; and
• Outrages upon personal dignity as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(ii), in the context of captivity.

The U.S. and Israel does not recognize the ICC. 

With this warrant issued, Netanyahu, Gallant and President Isaac Herzog will not be able to travel to nations that are recognized as partners of the ICC. If they even remotely flee, they could be arrested upon arrival to any member. This also give the United Nations more ability to demand permanent members to override any attempts by the U.S. to veto any resolution that punishes Israel or any draft resolution to recognize Palestinian sovereignty.

Yahya Sinwar, Hamas chief commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades issued an indictment.

Khan had directly told the U.S. and Great Britain that the ICC has waited too long to initiate the indictments. They gave Israel all the opportunity to handle the matter according to international law. The flagrant rejection and the repeated threats against the ICC forced the hand.

While the ICC is independent of the UN, it is endorsed by the UN’s General Assembly and maintains a cooperation agreement with the UN. When a case is not within the ICC’s jurisdiction, the UN Security Council can refer that case to the ICC, granting it jurisdiction.

The court can investigate alleged crimes committed on the territory, or by a national, of any state that has accepted the court’s jurisdiction by signing the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC. Any member state can ask the ICC’s prosecutor to launch an investigation.

The court has previously issued arrest warrants against high-ranking individuals, including former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, Saif Gadhafi, the son of the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, and most recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Signatory states are obliged to apprehend those facing arrest warrants, but leaders have often sought to evade those warrants, restricting their freedom of movement.

Both Hamas and Israeli politicians denounced the ICC’s move.

Hamas said it was an attempt to “equate victims with aggressors by issuing arrest warrants against a number of Palestinian resistance leaders without legal basis.” The militant group said warrant requests for Netanyahu and Gallant had come “seven months late,” referring to the duration of Israel’s war in Gaza.

Israeli politicians across the political spectrum condemned the decision. Foreign Minister Israel Katz called it a “scandalous decision” and an “unrestrained frontal attack on the victims of October 7 and our 128 hostages in Gaza.”

Ismail Haniyeh, former Palestinian prime minister and Hamas senior adviser has an arrest warrant.

The leader of the opposition, Yair Lapid, called it “a complete moral failure” and said Israel “cannot accept the outrageous comparison between Netanyahu and Sinwar.”

The right-wing minister for National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, accused the ICC of antisemitism and called for an escalation of attacks against Hamas, while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said: “We have not seen such a show of hypocrisy and hatred of Jews as that of the Hague Tribunal since Nazi propaganda.”

CNN has reached out to the Prime Minister’s office and Defense Ministry.

In the US, meanwhile, House Republican leaders were weighing a potential legislative response to the ICC’s decision to seek warrants against Israeli leaders, according to a Republican source familiar with the matter.

House Speaker Mike Johnson was expected to put out a statement Monday, another source said. Nothing has been decided and discussions are still ongoing, but Republicans are expected to forcefully respond — and several of them have already spoken out.

US officials have previously said that they “firmly oppose” the ICC investigation into the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The US is not a signatory to the Rome Statute.

The suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.