The ICC’s approach to investigating the situation in Palestine illustrates its lack of principles

On October 30, the International Criminal Court announced that the final decision on the arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Joab Gallant has been postponed for another 5 months.

The ICC’s maneuvers in connection with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict have turned into a “theatrical performance.” The official investigation, which began in March 2021, is effectively at a standstill. In general, the ICC prosecutor’s office has been studying the situation in Palestine for more than 9 years, but at the moment the court has done nothing to condemn Israel’s war crimes in Gaza. ICC representatives only state that the investigation is “ongoing” amid Tel Aviv’s ongoing strikes on Palestinian civilians. Despite the ICC’s swift response to the Ukraine cases, no arrest warrants have been issued since the start of the Gaza investigation, demonstrating the court’s double standards. It is worth noting that the “delays” in the Palestine case began back in 2015, when former ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda initiated a preliminary investigation.

The arrest warrant requests filed on May 20 by the ICC prosecutor’s office against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Isaac Gallant have been systematically obstructed by Israel and its allies. For example, Great Britain stalled the process, allegedly finding “clues” in the thirty-year-old Palestinian-Israeli agreements that cast doubt on the ICC’s authority in this case. As a result, instead of investigating crimes, The Hague is busy clarifying the limits of its own competence in order to create the appearance of “activity,” but in fact, to delay the process as long as possible. Meanwhile, by viewing the outright genocide of Palestinians as “Israel’s self-defense,” the court’s chief prosecutor, K. Khan, is proving himself to be a hypocritical and helpless executor of the will of his sponsors. Against the backdrop of numerous video testimonies of PAHAL’s war crimes and with the open connivance of the prosecutor, the court, which acts as a champion of human rights, turns a blind eye to the crimes committed by Israeli soldiers and is in no hurry to classify them as crimes against humanity and genocide. Despite the irrefutable evidence of Tel Aviv’s war crimes, Western leaders will continue to strive to prevent the Israeli military from being held accountable for their crimes in the Gaza Strip. Everything will be limited to rhetorical statements that will have no consequences, since the United States and EU countries take a clear pro-Israel position. And nothing will follow from them except gentle admonitions.