International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan on Monday formally requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Galant, and several leaders of the genocidal terrorist organization Hamas.
Mr. Khan equated Israel’s self-defense operations against Hamas in Gaza with the widespread atrocities committed in Israel by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, and said that Hamas would not be able to escape from Gaza, which Hamas has ruled since 2007. He declared that self-defense operations aimed at eradicating the United States were “criminal.”
Karim Khan, prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, speaks to AFP at the Cour d’Honneur at the Palais Royal in Paris on February 7, 2024. (Dimitar Dirkov/AFP)
“Like other countries, Israel has the right to take action to protect its citizens. However, that right does not exempt Israel or any state from its obligation to comply with international humanitarian law,” Khan said. he said. I have written In a statement regarding the request for an arrest warrant, he said: “Whatever its military objectives, the means Israel has chosen to achieve them in Gaza, including deliberately causing death, starvation, great suffering, and serious injury to body and health of civilians, are It is a crime.”
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is a global institution established by the Rome Statute, an international legal instrument, with the power to handle charges against individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.Only states that have signed Under the Statute of Rome, he undertook to abide by that writ. Neither Israel nor the Palestinian political group, which Mr. Khan referred to as the “state” of Palestine, has done so. If the court grants the warrant requested by Khan, signatories to the Rome Statute would have jurisdiction to arrest targeted individuals.
clan chief I was demanded to In addition to Prime Minister Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant, several high-ranking Hamas terrorists including terrorist mastermind Yahya Sinwar, “political” leader Ismail Haniyeh, and “commander-in-chief” of Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades, Mohamed Diab Ibrahim, A warrant has also been obtained for Al Masri.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attend a press conference at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv on October 28, 2023, as fighting between Israel and the Palestinian organization Hamas continues (ABIR SULTAN/POOL /AFP via Getty) Image).
Hamas leaders are accused of five separate crimes against humanity and three war crimes, all related to the October 7 atrocities, including murder, hostage-taking, rape, This includes things like “extinction.” Khan claimed the atrocities were part of an “international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine,” a state that does not exist.
Khan noted that the prosecution of Hamas leaders was made possible thanks to the cooperation of the October 7 victims, who filed a formal complaint with the ICC in February and submitted 1,000 pages of evidence to the court. did.
“During my own visits to Kibbutz Beeri and Kibbutz Kfar Azha, as well as the venue of the Supernova music festival in Reims, I was struck by the horrific scenes of these attacks and the seriousness of the unconscionable crimes charged in the application. I have seen the impact of this and submitted it today,” Khan wrote. “Speaking with survivors, we hear how the love within a family, the deepest bond between parent and child, was distorted by calculated cruelty and extreme callousness to inflict untold suffering. I did.”
The destruction caused when Hamas militants invaded Kibbutz Beeri in southern Israel, near the Israel-Gaza border. October 25, 2023 (DIMA VAZINOVICH/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images).
Israeli authorities record an estimated 1,200 people killed and another 250 taken hostage in the October 7 Hamas invasion, of whom approximately 130 remain missing, suspected dead, or held captive. did. Extensive evidence, including videos shot by the terrorists themselves and uploaded to the Internet, shows that the terrorists engaged in atrocities such as gang rapes, executions during rape, slaughter of entire families in their homes, infanticide, torture, and desecration of corpses. It is shown that.
Mr. Khan treated these crimes as similar to Israel’s attempts to prevent future attacks from happening again.
Netanyahu and Gallant are charged with three counts of “war crimes” and three counts of “crimes against humanity,” including “starvation,” “extermination” and “persecution.”
“We assert that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against Palestinian civilians based on state policy. According to our assessment, these crimes continue to this day. “There are,” Khan wrote.
Khan said that despite evidence that markets are booming in parts of the Gaza Strip and humanitarian aid is plentiful, Israel is “purchasing goods essential to human survival from civilians throughout the Strip.” “It was stolen in a targeted and systematic manner.” Khan also accused Israel of “arbitrarily restricting the transportation of essential goods such as food and medicine through border crossings after the border reopened.” At the Rafah border crossing, the southernmost and most direct way to access civilians, after Israeli authorities grappled with Hamas’ presence in northern Gaza, it became clear that it was Israel, not Israel, that was responsible for keeping the border closed. Multiple reports indicated that it was neighboring Egypt.
The charges also did not mention reports that Hamas has actively stolen humanitarian aid and attacked intersections used to allow aid into Gaza.
Khan emphasized that the purpose of the warrant request is to treat Israeli authorities and Hamas in the same way.
“Today I want to be clear about one core issue: If we do not show a will to apply the law equally, if the law is seen as being applied selectively, we are creating the conditions for the collapse of the law. “It will be,” Khan wrote. “In doing so, we will loosen the remaining ties that bind us together, the stable connections between all communities and individuals, the safety nets that all victims rely on in times of suffering. That’s the real risk we face at the moment.”
The Israeli government reacted furiously to the arrest request on Monday.
“The State of Israel is waging one of the most just wars in modern history following the reprehensible massacre committed by the terrorist Hamas on October 7,” Army Minister Benny Gantz said in a statement. , further added:
Israel, while adhering to international law and boasting a strong independent judiciary, struggles with one of the strictest moral codes in history, is the leader of a democratic nation determined to protect itself from despicable terrorism. It is problematic to draw parallels between the terrorist organization and the leader of a bloodthirsty terrorist organization. Serious distortion of justice and blatant moral failure.
In April, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the ICC that issuing arrest warrants for him and other Israeli officials was an “outrage of historic proportions.”
“International organizations like the ICC were established in the wake of the Holocaust against the Jewish people. They were established to prevent such horrors and prevent future genocide,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said at the time. “Charging Israeli leaders and soldiers as war criminals would pour jet fuel on the fires of anti-Semitism already raging on American campuses and in capitals around the world.”
