The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday formally issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for their role in the genocidal war on Gaza.
The ICC said it was issuing the arrest warrants for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by Israel since October 8, 2023, and up to at least May 20, 2024.
The court said it found reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant “each bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”
The ICC said the two Israeli leaders also “bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population.”
The court said Netanyahu and Gallant “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”
The ICC also announced it was issuing an arrest warrant for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, known as Mohammed Deif. Israel claimed to have killed Deif in a strike on a tent camp that killed nearly 90 Palestinians, but Hamas has said he’s still alive. Deif is the head of Hamas’s military wing, known as the al-Qassam Brigades.
The ICC initially sought warrants for Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, but they have both been killed by Israel. The court said it was seeking the warrant for Deif for “alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on the territory of the State of Israel and the State of Palestine from at least 7 October 2023.”
The charges against Deif are related to the conduct of Hamas fighters in Israel during the October 7 attack, the taking of hostages, and the treatment of hostages. Notably, the court does not allege any sexual violence occurred during the October 7 attack despite claims of mass rape from US and Israeli media. The court does say there’s evidence sexual violence and rape was committed against Israeli hostages in Gaza.
The ICC said it found reasonable grounds to believe Deif is responsible for “the crimes against humanity of murder; extermination; torture; and rape and other form of sexual violence; as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture, taking hostages; outrages upon personal dignity; and rape and other form of sexual violence.”
The warrants mean that Netanyahu, Gallant, and Deif could be subject to arrest in the more than 120 countries that are a party to the ICC. While the ICC went after both Israeli and Hamas leadership, Netanyahu accused the court of making an “antisemitic decision.”
The US also rejected the warrants since US officials are implicated due to all the support and military aid the US has provided to Israel to help it carry out war crimes and crimes against humanity. “The United States fundamentally rejects the Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials. We remain deeply concerned by the Prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision,” said a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council.
The US had been putting significant pressure on the court to abandon the warrants against Israeli officials, but the campaign didn’t work. Congress may now advance bills to sanction the ICC.
In response to the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) reminded the ICC that the US has a law on the books that authorizes the use of force against the Hague-based court to free any US or allied government officials or service members, nicknamed the Hague Invasion Act.
“The ICC is a kangaroo court and Karim Khan is a deranged fanatic,” Cotton wrote on X, referring to the ICC’s top prosecutor. “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.”
Later in the day, President Biden released a statement slamming the ICC. “The ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. 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.”
Good sound logic, following the letter of the law…
The article shows once again how ambivalent, hypocritical, and perfidious the media ‘Antiwar’ propagates its reports, because the USA, Russia, China, and Israel do not participate in the ICC treaty. The USA, on the other hand, enacts a protection law for American service members (American Service-Members' Protection Act also known as the “Hague Invasion Act”). There is no criticism of the international behaviour of the USA in relation to public international law.
https://2001-2009.state.gov/t/pm/rls/othr/misc/23425.htm American Service-Members' Protection Act
https://www.hrw.org/news/2002/08/03/us-hague-invasion-act-becomes-law
https://www.diplomatic-council.org/node/432 William Pace: The Hague Invasion Act remains dangerous
https://scholar.harvard.edu/ksikkink/blog/%E2%80%9Cinvade-hague%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%9Csupport-icc%E2%80%9D-america%E2%80%99s-shifting-stance-international-criminal-court From “Invade the Hague” to “Support the ICC”: America’s shifting stance on the International Criminal Court
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-lawmakers-hague-invasion-act-what-is-it
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240523-the-us-president-is-authorised-to-invade-the-hague-if-any-israeli-is-held-by-the-icc/
https://nomadcapitalist.com/global-citizen/countries-arent-part-of-icc/
http://www.commonlii.org/sg/journals/SGYrBkIntLaw/2006/6.pdf CHINA AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT: THE CURRENT SITUATION
https://www.atlasofwars.com/russia-wants-to-introduce-its-own-hague-invasion-law/
Read this article and reply if you dare to: https://caityjohnstone.medium.com/the-real-israel-15594920af19
You are soooooo obviously grasping for straws as you slide down the abyss staring back at you.
And stop crying. It's obvious what's going on today. Israel and the USA are the bad guys this time and will start WWIII for the sake of profits in the MIC, Wall St. and others who profit from death and destruction.
Distorted, one-sided presentation of the facts in your post, because who has started a war in Ukraine since 2014 or Palestine/Israel since Aliyah?
Distorted? Yeah, right! It’s all recent history in that article.
Reminder that Tom Cotton is entirely a product of the Israeli lobby's funding. He is not a politician as much as a political prostitute.
"The Hague Invasion Act." Cotton and the other puppets threaten to INVADE A NATO COUNTRY for Israel. Everything is thrown out the window to please the lobby and big media bosses.
Best European diplomat since Talleyrand, Daniel Bernard, solely for this quote:
Might as well Put a new law and call it" The New York Invasion Act" in case the United Nations does something the moron Tom Cotton doesn't like.
Here Here..thanks for the wise and most accurate post.
Threatening to invade a Nato country for Israel for a reason. The US is complicit in the crimes prosecuted. The world very well understand this, that it is not Israel alone who is carrying out the genocide, the framework within the crimes specified here were committed. Cotton knows very well if only this world were slighlty more just and a little more lawful he and most of his collegues should stand right next to Netanyahu before the court.
And worse still, the country Cotton would have the US invade in which the court resides also is complicit in the genocide, also being true to their shameful national history.
Who is complicit in the HEZ and Ham crimes?Why is the ICJ not prosecuting the Suyrian rgieme for their war crimes?
Jake, you're out of gas and making a fool of yourself here. Creep back under your rock.
In his mind it is already a huge concession to equate the Israeli regime with Hezbollah and Hamas. There is no comparison. Hezbollah and Hamas are squeeky clean compared to Israel. Hell, the SS could barely hold a candle to them, the Israeli are caricaturally evil. His brain would melt instantly and ooze out of his ears and drip into a puddle of the purest shame if ever forced to come to terms with reality.
Nothing you said is even vaguely true.
For one thing, Hamas is not a legal government; it illegal occupies Gaza, which Israel left in 2006. No, the didn't "win the election"; they won more seats in the Palestinian Authority election, but after this was disputed, they engaged in an violent coup to kick out the legal government (the PA) and take over Gaza, which they rule with elections or law. Imprisonment, Torture, and execution are imposed on the people of Gaza.
Meanwhile, in Israel, all citizens can vote, and Israeli Arabs have the same rights as Israeli Jews. In fact, Israeli Arabs have more rights than Arabs in any Arab countries. That is why the Walls Israel built was for keeping people out, not in.
Personal attacks are the weakest arguments.
HA!
I wonder why Cotton would make such a statement? Is it little boys or little girls?
In America Non-Jewish assholes like Mike Huckabee, Tom Cotton, and Elise Stefanik are the most rabid Zionists, while Jewish Americans like Max Blumenthal and Norman Finkelstein are among the most courageous Anti-Zionists. It makes perfect sense when you realize that Non-Jewish western assholes have a proud history of colonizing indigenous peoples, while Jewish people have a proud history of standing up for the oppressed.
They do? What about Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and the greater Israel agenda? They became what they hate the most, i.e. Nazi's with a Nazi agenda. Not such a proud history today, and remember pride is one of the 7 deadly Sins in both Classical and Christian ethics.
Judaism has been around for thousands of years, Zionism has only occupied about 150 of those. Those who stay true to the values of Judaism know that this to will pass.
Zionism has been around for thousands of years, it’s just been put into place in Israel. There are other aspects of Zionism in the Rabbinical texts which most people are unaware of.
I think you need remedial work on the difference between Jews and Zionists.
Most support Israel’s war against Hamas, and how it’s fought
A survey shows their views on the conflict are starkly different
from those of the rest of the population, where far fewer Americans see
Israel’s rationale for the war and its conduct as justifiable. https://www.jta.org/2024/03/21/politics/majority-of-jewish-americans-support-israels-war-against-hamas-and-how-its-fought
You imply that the Jews of Israel are "colonizing indigenous people". That is false for many reasons.
Jews clearly lived in what is now Israel since ancient times. Even in Gaza – which is now forbidden to Jews and where Hamas destroyed any traces of Jewish history – was a center of Jewish culture going back to Roman times.
The Muslim conquest didn't occur until 635 AD, and Jews were barred from moving to the area by various Muslim conquerors. Despite this, Jerusalem – the major city in the area – has had a Jewish majority since the 19860s.
You may think someone like Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was "indigenous," but he was born in Cairo, Egypt to an Egyptian family. And because the Ottoman (Turks) ruled the area as a colony for four hundred years, many people of Turkish heritage moved there. These were actual colonizers, not "indigenous people".
Jews have lived in Israel for thousands of years. Mostly in peaceful coexistence with Muslims and Christians.
Things got a bit worse midway through the 20th century when a bunch of Europeans poured in, though it was manageable.
Things only got really bad in the 1990’s and 2000’s when a shit-ton of Eastern Europeans and Russians poured in.
That is a remarkable inaccurate view of the Middle East, unless you go to Harvard.
Jerusalem – the major city in the area – has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, captured 44 times, and attacked 52 times.
This view – "everything was peaceful in the Middle East, until those trouble-making Jews showed up" is absurd. You ignore the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in 635 AD, the Crusades, and the Muslim reconquest of Jerusalem and the Ottoman conquest of the area.
You also ignore the fact that various Muslim empires that excluded Jews from moving back to what they perceived as their homeland. Is that "peaceful coexistence" when you are banned from a country?
And when the British conquered the area and relaxed centuries of bias against Jews, the increased population of Jews was met with hostility and violence by the Arab population, not the other way around. This included the attacks of the 1920s and 1930s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1929_Palestine_riots
And when the UN proposed settling this conflict with a partition plan, the Arabs chose to attack and destroy the Jews – a war than many in the Arab world say has never ended.
So – when one group seeks to destroy you, that's your fault – according to your superficial interpretation of history, which you seem to think began with your time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem
Cotton is not "entirely a tool of the Israeli lobby's funding." What an absurd claim. The US government acts for the benefit of the United States, including the support of its allies from make-believe courts like the ICC. Countries that don't defend their allies don't have allies, and Israel – a high-tech nuclear power – provides military technology to the United States in a volatile region of the world that produces 30% of the world's oil. You can see how Yemen and others try to control the flow of oil. Maybe you want to surrender the majority of the world's oil to Iran, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, but then you don't value America's economy or other interests.
Further, the ICC ruling only applies to member states; Israel is not a member, and Hamas is not a state. It is a meaningless gestured by a court whose head is under investigation for sexual abuse.
And calling Cotton "a puppet" shows zero understanding of how the government in Washington works, and sounds a lot like certain complaints about "those people" who secretly control the US government.
“The ICC is a kangaroo court and Karim Khan is a deranged fanatic,” Cotton wrote on X, referring to the ICC’s top prosecutor. “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.”
When Dick Cheney dies (hopefully soon but only by natural causes) Dick Cheney will live on.
Tom Cotton has the classic face of a villain.
Funny the US loved the ICC when it came to Putins arrest warrant !!
Yes, a correct post in the forum.
https://quigley.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/house-resolution-supports-icc-arrest-warrant-putin-lvova-belova
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2023/03/18/biden-calls-arrest-warrant-putin-justified-ukraine-live-updates/11498523002/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/18/biden-hails-decision-icc-arrest-warrant-against-putin
https://www.npr.org/2024/02/29/1234159514/gaza-death-toll-30000-palestinians-israel-hamas-war
Kangaroos would be insulted by this statement as they can comprehend above Tom Cotton's brain…! And in fact Cotton is the deranged fanatic MF…!
The USA is the biggest occupied country in the world. Americans might think they are free and their country is independent but all is delusion.
About time to see these arrest warrents go out. Now, how about issuing a warrant for Nutandyahoo's and Gallent's partner in war crime Genocide Joe…
Regarding the "Hague Invasion Act"; just goes to show the U.S.A. in the international community is indeed a Rogue state along with evil Israel.
Based on this ruling, citizens in civilized countries that believe in the rule of law (ie not the United States) need to pressure their countries to cut off all cultural and economic and other contact with Israel until it hands over the accused to the Court for trial. From sporting contests and cultural exchanges to banking, weapons, and any other trade, there needs to be an embargo until compliance.
Need to cut ties from the U.S.A. also as they are direct enablers to the atrocities that Israel is commiting.
Cotton, and all of the "bought off" fiends claiming to be representatives of the people need to be ignored. These people are a joke to all intelligent Americans and the world at large. The ICC also needs to go after the Biden regime since they are all complicit/enablers of the Zionist genocide in Gaza.
Both "about time" and "a waste of time."
That the ICC had to issue warrants against Hamas members clearly shows it is still compromised completely. While technically some elements of Hamas may have contravened the "laws of war" in that some Israel "civilians" were taken hostage or killed, it ignores the fact that, just as the Israelis claim "there are no civilians in Gaza", so there are no civilians in Israel.
Civilians bear the responsibility for the actions of the governments they elect into power. If your government commits atrocities, YOU commit atrocities.
Unless, of course, like me, you DO NOT VOTE for your government.
"If you don't vote, you can't complain." Au contraire mon frere, I'm the only one who can complain.
" The Hague Invasion Act" is a stupid act or whatever though of by imbeciles.
Whilst I totally agree with you, it would be interesting in this case to test it.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/467e443924e312e9bc379c23d2a6ab23519fcd71f5d8b12db89dfe475b0dff11.png https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/51a57ab9e52d7bd9939fd900d03241a2d23a5319a3883fa9b03840edc75bf4e7.png
Hopefully the ICC will also issue an arrest warrant for Biden as he, the US gov't, is complicit in the genocide that Israel is carrying out. In criminal law Biden/the US gov't, is an accomplice in the genocide Israel is carrying out against the Palestinians of Gaza and also the West Bank, and would also be charged.
If these dual citizenship Israeli Americans like Israel so much, why don't they just move there and leave us REAL Americans alone? Israel has made its own bed in the Middle East for over 70 years. Let them sleep in it!
Hi Tom,
I hear you and understand you, yet, Israel seems caught in a place not necessarily of their own fault…
List: https://nexusnewsfeed.com/article/geopolitics/89-of-our-senators-and-congress-hold-dual-citizenship-citizenship-with-israel/
A good start…
This warrant is equivalent to Delta Force with Chuck Norris at his current age leading it.
;-}
It has great meaning in most of the free world, these people are criminals who will now run and hide for the rest of their lives.
Now issue one for A Blinken
Will this be televised?..?…?
https://www.presstv.ir/Live
Some good coverage of events going on, as per usual!
Cotton ,Blinken,AIPAC,GOP, ADL and settlermafia complex in Israel should ask ICC :"Doyou recognize USA's right to exist" ?
ICC might get confused but the oneliner will serve as the dogwhistle to the fat stupid Americans with no capacity to think .They will jump to it as something bad for Israel bashing ICC and something good for America.
Collective punishment of unarmed civilians is definitely a War crime and it should be.
"What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, kibbutz, illegal settlements, residence, IDF base, US weapons warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse (the Knesset) and doghouse in the Apartheid State of Israel. Checkpoints go up at fifteen miles. Your fugitive's name is Prime Minister Ben Netanyahu. Go get him."
”Children live what they learn”….
Why is an American Senator serving the interests of leaders of a foreign government instead of the people of his State? Neverminded, asking this question is "anti-Semitic," according to Non-Jewish public officials.
Why? It all comes down to MONEY, doesn't it?
Looks like AIPAC overlooked buying off the judges of the ICC.
You nailed that one Warren!
More likely they ran out of money buying off all the judges who demanded it to turn a blind eye to the genocidal slaughter!!!!!!!!!
"'The ICC is a kangaroo court and Karim Khan is a deranged fanatic,' Cotton wrote," An' this hee-yuh blowtorch sez ah ay-yuhnt foolin' – yuh hee-yuh me, Karim, boy'? the beet-red-faced ex-army lawmaker jokingly screamed.
Now, how about all the enablers in Wash. using our taxes to fund the genocide in Gaza, West Bank and the destruction of Lebanon to make way for the greater Israel project?
I have a strong inkling that the Genocidal Greater Israel project is not going to work out as planned and could end up with a LESSER ISRAEL as a result of using GENOCIDE AS A TOOL OF WAR & STATECRAFT!! WHY NOT DIVIDE ISRAEL IN TWO FOR IT'S WAR & GENOCIDE ON INNOCENT WOMEN & CHILDREN OF THE HOLY LAND?????!! It was done to the NAZIS, Why not do it to the Zionists who differ from the Nazis in name only!!!
The Nazis didn’t have a super power funding them like Israel does. Wash. won’t let that happen even if it means WWIII. The bribery is extensive and it’s payback time from now ’till the end.
IT'S WAAAAAY PAST TIME WHEN THESE GENOCIDAL MONSTERS WERE BUSTED!!
SEEMS IT's PART & PARCEL OF THE GREATER ISRAEL PROJECT!!!!! BUT SINCE WHEN DID CARPET BOMBING WOMEN & CHILDREN MAKE A STATE GREAT?????? TIME TO TAKE AWAY WHAT THE UN GAVE TO ISRAEL & RETURN IT TO THOSE THAT THAT IT WAS TAKEN FROM.