Opinion | If the ICC cannot hold Israel to account, then it is worthless as an institution
Multiple members of the International Criminal Court (ICC), initiated by South Africa, are pursuing a lawsuit against Israel accusing them of genocide in the Gaza strip, which they aim, according to their own words, to military occupy. Benjamin Netanyahu has called for the dismissal of any verdict by the court, and has also in recent weeks doubled down on his explicit rejection of a two-state solution altogether. Despite this, the Western media, as well as political figures, are dismissive of the court case at large with France's own foreign minister accusing it of being "politically motivated."
How the court handles this case will be the ultimate and definitive determination of its credibility. The ICC, as per the Rome Statue, is designed to enforce international law and hold people accountable for high-level political crimes such as war and genocide. However, the court, which is based in The Hague, the Netherlands, has always been deferential in favor of Western interests and objectives. For example, were George W. Bush and Tony Blair ever held to account by it for the illegal invasion of Iraq? Absolutely not, yet the court put out an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin.
Similarly, smaller states and regimes that have fallen foul of the West have also been held to account by the court for their crimes. However, the one issue which the court under no circumstances seems to be willing to confront or take action against, is Israel, and Western states often pursue extraordinary and performative stunts in order to prevent this from happening. For example, in 2020, US Secretary Mike Pompeo even went as far as placing sanctions on the court's prosecutors to prevent it from investigating allegations of criminality by Israel. These may have been undone by the Biden administration, but the principle in effect remains the same.
The same West which preaches the moral high ground about human rights, self-determination and democracy is happy to make Israel a law unto itself in the view to engaging in illegal occupation, mass killing and annexation of Palestinian people and territory. The state of Palestine is an internationally recognized sovereign state by 139 countries, the only ones refusing to do so being the US and its allies, which of course also casts doubt on their commitment to a "two-state solution", not least because Israel's leadership could not be clearer recently in its intentions that it no longer believes Palestine has any right to exist.
It does not matter if Western leaders "officially" disagree with this, including the US Presidential administration, because the reality is that they are not prepared to take any form of punitive actions to change Israel's behavior in any instance. There will be no sanctions, no withdrawal of military aid, no diplomatic censuring, no condemnation at the United Nations, nothing. To this end, I have written previously that Benjamin Netanyahu has successfully called the West's bluff and exposed their toothlessness in confronting him, yes he wants to effectively occupy Gaza, but what are they going to do about it? The issue has therefore become a moral black hole of the West to the point they would rather take further military action against those responding to the Gaza situation, than actually force a ceasefire.
Similarly, the failure of the international criminal court to take a stand against Israel will be definitive of its credibility, legitimacy and therefore value as an institution in the arbitration and enforcement of international law. Is the ICC a serious body that holds all bad actors to account, or is it merely a tool of Western interests that can prosecute some people who the West does not like, but has no actual jurisdiction over the wrongdoings over those whom the West supports and is just expected to stay silent? If so, this makes a mockery of the principles of justice and the rule of law.
Given such, if international law cannot defend the lives of innocent people in Gaza, and people therefore lose faith in the credibility of such institutions to represent them, what is the solution? As it is, the situation concerning Israel is a massive driver as to why some parties and individuals feel there is no other path but proactive resistance. The West condemns this as terrorism, but the point is missed that those who are victims do not feel they have any other choice, and this is the precise reason why Hamas become so influential in the Gaza Strip. The media feeds a one-sided narrative that it is just "evil terrorists who wish to destroy Israel and threaten its freedom" but that is misleading, because the reality is that the situation is completely deprived of international justice regarding the progressive occupation and annexation of Palestinian land, and the deprivation of their voice by the west in the unconditional backing of Tel Aviv's crimes. Thus, the ICC now has a choice, to either grow a spine, or to be condemned in history as a worthless puppet institution that could not live up to the humanitarian principles it swore to represent.
The author is a well-seasoned writer and analyst with a large portfolio related to China topics, especially in the field of politics, international relations and more. He graduated with an Msc. in Chinese Studies from Oxford University in 2018.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
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