AMMAN, Jordan, Might 22 (IPS) – The Worldwide Felony Court docket prosecutor’s software for an arrest warrant over the scenario in Palestine is a milestone. However they do not do a lot credit score to prosecutor Karim Khan.
It is clear that Khan has been sitting on this archive for years, hoping it will disappear. Two issues compelled him to take motion.
First, he indicted senior Russian officers in 2023, regardless of beforehand pledging to pursue solely circumstances referred to his workplace by the U.N. Safety Council and ignoring the remaining — notably investigations into Afghanistan and Palestine that have been opposed by the US and Britain.
Having damaged a promise, the hypocrisy of continuous to disregard the Palestinian inquiry launched in 2021 has turn into too overwhelming, particularly as Israel’s genocidal assaults on Palestinians within the Gaza Strip intensify in 2024.
Second, the worldwide outcry towards his inertia grew to become tough to disregard. Whereas Khan would like to pursue the coverage preferences of the US, Britain and Israel (the principle backers of his bid for ICC prosecutor), his inaction is untenable.
In line with Khan. His workplace has been investigating the scenario in Palestine since early 2021 and is reviewing all violations of the Rome Statute since 2014.
His software utterly ignores all points unrelated to the present scenario in Gaza. There was no point out of apartheid’s crimes towards humanity, no point out of the struggle crimes of unlawful settlements, no point out of Israel’s earlier assaults on Gaza, or its systematic concentrating on of demonstrators throughout the 2018 March of Return. Sexual sniper assault.
A cautious politician with a watch on those that obtained him elected, he sharply prosecuted three Hamas leaders however solely two Israeli officers. This raises many questions: Why is he searching for an arrest warrant for the Hamas chief, who in accordance with current studies was not concerned in planning or executing the October 7, 2023 assault, however Israeli President Isaac What did Herzog not do, who explicitly recognized Palestinian civilians as professional army targets?
Why did Khan refuse to use for an arrest warrant from the Israeli military’s chief of workers, any senior Israeli army commander straight liable for the crimes he enumerated, or every other member of Israel’s struggle cupboard who bore full accountability for them?
Why did he intentionally ignore the crime of genocide clearly acknowledged within the Rome Statute? The Worldwide Court docket of Justice (ICJ) is probably going additionally contemplating Israel’s accountability for the genocide, however not like the ICJ, the ICC doesn’t deal with particular person felony accountability.
There isn’t any doubt that Khan is taking part in politics once more. His downside is that his efforts to curry favor with Washington will convey him nothing, and he’s already below assault from throughout the spectrum of American politics for violating Israel’s sacred precept of impunity. Washington will now cease at nothing to make sure that solely Khan and Hamas are held accountable.
Beneath the Rome Statute, makes an attempt by the US to intrude with ICC proceedings represent against the law in itself. Will Khan maintain the crazed lunatics who’ve taken over the sanctuaries in Washington accountable, or stand by and hope for a pardon?
Nonetheless, Khan’s behavioral flaws are a vital growth. Coupled with the genocide case on the Worldwide Court docket of Justice, it’s now unimaginable for Israel to take care of its standing of exception.
It’s more and more judged legally and politically on the idea of its precise conduct fairly than by the sordid prism of twentieth-century European historical past. For Israel, this represents a strategic failure.
Muan Rabbani is co-editor of Jadaliyya, non-resident fellow on the Heart for Battle and Humanitarian Research (CHS) and non-resident fellow at Democracy within the Arab World (DAWN).
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