The arrest warrants are on the table of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), British jurist Karim Khan. War crimes are those investigated by the court created by the 1998 Rome Statute, to which 124 countries have adhered. The most notable suspect is Benjamin Netanyahu, but not the only one. Also on the Israeli side are his Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, and the military chief, Herzi Halevi. For the Palestinian, the military leaders of Hamas.
Since the crimes are numerous, the prosecutor has a choice to start with. As he has done with Putin, also subject to an international arrest warrant, he has focused on where there is greatest urgency. In the case of the Russian president, it is the kidnapping of Ukrainian children. In that of the Israeli prime minister, the strategy of depriving Gaza of food, water and health supplies. The massacres of civilians, indiscriminate bombings and other atrocities will be left for later.
The ICC prosecutor intends to pressure Israel to facilitate the entry of as much humanitarian aid as needed, now still very restricted despite the relaxation that followed the massacre of the seven collaborators of World Central Kitchen, the organization of chef José Andrés . Also the judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), dependent on the United Nations, have just reprimanded Israel for the third time to guarantee supplies, in a resolution that rejects the accusations against Germany for complicity in the crime of genocide that South Africa has committed. denounced.
The ICC issues sentences against individuals, but the ICJ settles differences between United Nations partner states, in this case over the Genocide Convention. Only the former involve jail time, while the latter consist of arbitration or precautionary measures, such as those now imposed to ease the siege on Gaza. Its compliance remains in the hands of the Security Council, where the United States has the right of veto. Israel signed the Genocide Convention, but not the ICC Statute, whose orders it does not intend to comply with and which its prime minister has labeled “anti-Semitic hate crimes.”
Although it does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC, the White House applauded the arrest warrant against Putin, but has limited itself to recalling its position against international criminal justice in the case of Netanyahu. All his efforts are concentrated on obtaining a new truce in exchange for the release of another group of hostages. Both the offensive on Rafah and the arrest warrants would derail this opportunity for peace that the United States is working on. With or without a truce, it is not certain that Netanyahu will be able to fulfill his intention of attacking Rafah. When Prosecutor Khan signs the arrest warrant, however, it will surely become more difficult for him to move around the world, exactly the same as what happens to Putin.
.
.
_
