Netanyahu and the ICC: accountability vs the end of International law?
Published
by
Leah Levane
JVL Introduction
LL
This article was originally published by Ha'aretz on Fri 22 Nov 2024. Read the original here.
Netanyahu Wishes to Turn ICC Arrest Warrants Into Global No-confidence Motion in International Law
Prime minister Netanyahu will try to persuade Israelis that the ICC case isn’t against just him, but against all Israelis – while attempting to dismantle commonly agreed upon liberal norms. Meanwhile, Israelis will continue to bury their head in the sand about what is being done in their name in Gaza
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So we’re really expected to think the “majority of Israelis” have “NO idea” what’s going on .. sorry.. but this is an attempt to whitewash Israel.. if I’ve known for 45 years, living in UK where the media has tried to hide it , do not attempt to tell me that the vast majority of Israelis don’t know ..
How can members of the IDF not know what is happening to the Palestinian and Lebanese people . After all they are doing the shooting ..The IDF recruit from amongst the civilian population of Israel in turn when they finish a tour of duty, then they are bound to return to their families and friends in Israel. Carrying with them the experience and knowledge of what actually happened.This sets up the possibility that Israeli people will be confronted with a contradiction between what they are being told by the Media and what is organic knowledge. The contrast between the two must be enormous.
Letter in today’s Times…23 Nov….from a man who knows what he is talking about
Sir, Regarding your leading article (“Legal Fiction”, Nov 22), judges and officials of the International Criminal Court are independent individuals appointed after a rigorous selection process. There is no evidence whatsoever that they are antisemitic or prejudiced in any way against Israel. Their jurisdiction arises only if Israel itself is not seen to be investigating, in an impartial way, the evidence on which the judges of the international court can rely. There is no evidence of any such investigation and therefore the ICC judges are obliged to consider the evidence presented to them and to reach a decision on the basis of that evidence.
The time taken since the request for warrants was made in May suggests the most detailed examination by the judges of the evidence presented to them. There is no reason to doubt the fairness and accuracy of their determination, which is not of guilt but of evidence leading to a conclusion of “reasonable grounds” existing that offences may have been committed.
Sir Geoffrey Nice KC
Lead prosecutor at the 2002 trial of Slobodan Milosevic at the International Criminal Tribunal
The British media describe the decision as ‘controversial’. Actually the decision itself isn’t controversial, only the refusal of the USA and Britain not to recognise it.