International Criminal Court's Prosecutor Karim Khan announcing the decision to file for an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, May 20, 2024. Photo: ICC footage.
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan filed applications for arrest warrants against Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, as well as Yahya Sinwar, head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, commander-in-chief of Hamas’s military wing, known as the al-Qassam Brigades, and Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau.
According to the court announcement made this Monday, May 20, all individuals “bear criminal responsibility for… war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of Israel and the State of Palestine.”
Netanyahu and Gallant are accused of crimes including “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” and “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime.” Meanwhile, Hamas leaders are accused of “taking hostages as a war crime” and “torture as a crime against humanity,” among other things, without considering the rising number of Palestinian prisoners held by the Zionist occupation without trials under so-called administrative detentions.
#ICC Prosecutor @KarimKhanQC announces applications for arrest warrants in relation to Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant in the context of the situation in the State of #Palestine ⤵️https://t.co/WqDZecXFZq pic.twitter.com/bxqLWc5M6u
— Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) May 20, 2024
“Today we once again underline that international law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all. No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader – no one – can act with impunity. Nothing can justify wilfully depriving human beings, including so many women and children, the basic necessities required for life. Nothing can justify the taking of hostages or the targeting of civilians,” the prosecutor stated.
“Now, more than ever, we must collectively demonstrate that international humanitarian law, the foundational baseline for human conduct during conflict, applies to all individuals and applies equally across the situations addressed by my Office and the Court,” he concluded.
For many, this ICC decision is a mockery of a long-awaited move on the genocide launched by Israel against innocent Palestinian civilians, who have been killed by indiscriminate bombings since October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian Resistance launched the Al-Aqsa Flood operation in response to decades of Israeli occupation, aggression, and ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian population.
Hamas response
Shortly after the ICC announcement, Quds News Network reported on its Telegram channel a Hamas-issued statement regarding the ICC decision and questioning its attempt to equate Israel’s genocide to the legitimate right of the Palestinian Resistance to fight for its liberation. Many analysts are calling the ICC decision a case of bothsideism. Below are parts of the Palestinian Resistance organization’s statement:
• “We strongly condemn the attempts by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to equate the victim with the aggressor by issuing arrest warrants against a number of Palestinian resistance leaders, without legal basis, thereby violating the treaties and United Nations resolutions that have granted the Palestinian people and all peoples under occupation the right to resist occupation in all forms, including armed resistance, especially in accordance with the United Nations Charter as stipulated in Article (51).”
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• “The announcement by the International Criminal Court to request arrest warrants for only two of the war criminals of the Zionist entity came seven months late, as the occupation committed thousands of crimes against Palestinian civilians.”
•”We demand that the Prosecutor issue arrest warrants for all war criminals among the leadership of the occupation, officers, and soldiers who participated in crimes against the Palestinian people. We also demand the cancellation of all arrest warrants issued against leaders of the Palestinian resistance for violating international treaties and resolutions.”
• “The Prosecutor should have issued arrest warrants against all responsible officials from the leadership of the occupation who gave the orders, and the soldiers who participated in the commission of the crimes, in accordance with Articles 25, 27, and 28 of the Rome Statute, which affirmed the individual criminal responsibility of every official, leader, or any person who ordered, incited, committed, assisted, or aided in the commission of crimes, or failed to take action to prevent their commission.”
(Alba Ciudad) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SF
