Kangaroo Klown Show
Last week marked the 79th anniversary of the beginning of the Nuremberg trials, and the International Criminal Court in the Hague thought that might be an appropriate occasion to issue arrest warrants for two leaders of the nation that was established, in large part, as a result of the crimes for which those trials were held.
On November 21, the ICC’s lead prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced that the court had issued warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
It is the first time the court has taken such action against the duly elected leader of a Western-aligned democracy.
The two are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including starvation as a method of warfare, murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts, allegedly committed during the conflict in Gaza.
Beyond the fairly vague and generalized accusations, the ICC has kept most of the details about the warrants a secret, including from Israel and its legal teams.
And, in some weird attempt at appearing impartial, the court also said that Mohammed Deif, the commander of Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades, should be arrested for having committed “crimes against humanity of murder, extermination, torture, and rape and other forms of sexual violence; as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture, taking hostages, outrages upon personal dignity, and rape and other forms of sexual violence.”
The only problem with the warrant for Deif’s arrest is that the IDF says it snuffed him out back in July and the ICC doesn’t try people posthumously.
Moreover, he’s not likely to be visiting any of the 124 CC member nations anytime soon, so what’s the point?
And, if the court thought it appropriate to indict one dude who’s pushing up daisies, why leave out Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, Saleh al-Arouri and Marwan Issa?