Israeli media report that the cabinet has met in emergency session regarding plans by the ICC to issue arrest warrants against its senior political and military leadership. It has not yet been reported by global media. Those to be named will be Prime Minister Netanyahu and senior IDF commanders responsible for the Gaza genocide. The warrants would be filed by the end of next month according to Channel 12’s Yaron Avraham (see tweet).
ממידע ומסרים שהגיעו באחרונה לירושלים, הסיכוי להוצאת צווי מעצר גדל דרמטית – ואפילו יש סד זמנים של ניסיון ראשון לעשות זאת כבר עד סוף החודש הקרוב. >>
— Yaron Avraham ירון אברהם (@yaronavraham) April 18, 2024
Times of Israel summarizes a TV news report from Channel 12:
…Ministers and…government legal experts held an ’emergency discussion” at the Prime Minister’s Office…regarding how to fend off the feared imminent issuing of such arrest warrants.
Germany’s foreign minister shakes the bloody hand of Netanyhu after yesterday’s meeting (Maayan Toaf/GPO)
The meeting was convened after information reached Jerusalem indicating that such warrants could be issued in the near future, the report says.
Netanyahu also raised the concern in his meetings this week with Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
At Tuesday’s discussion…Foreign Minister Israel Katz, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer…decided that Israel would also seek assistance in other influential international diplomatic circles to try to thwart the effort, the report says.
It is hardly a surprise that Germany would protect Israeli leaders with blood-stained hands. The Nazis committed genocide while denying it; just as Israel is committing genocide and denying it, while Germany is colludes with the campaign of denial. Not to mention it has broken up a conference at which Israeli war crimes would be documented. It arrested and imprisoned Palestinian and even Jewish activist protesting there against this genocide.
Given that Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan is a politically astute figure, it’s likely he has already made key states aware of his plans. He would not have made this decision without feeling certain it would be supported–or at least not opposed–by Israel’s European allies, who have leveled criticism of Israel’s slaughter in Gaza.
This is a long-awaited decision by the ICC. Many Palestine supporters had criticized the Court for years of delay after it announced in 2014 that it would begin an inquiry into war crimes during Operation Protective Edge (2014). Khan made a single visit to the Rafah crossing and made vague comments indicating Israel might be held responsible for its actions in Gaza. He made no effort to visit Gaza itself to see conditions first-hand. UDPATE: the Guardian wrote this in a story it published last month: “It is understood Khan has attempted to arrange visits to Gaza but Israel has refused him entry.” Though this is a totally unsourced claim, I concede it could be true. But it’s an exceedingly opaque way to address the issue. Israel would have prohibited entry anyway, to thwart his efforts to hold it accountable. He did, of course, visit Israel.
If the warrants are issued, it would indicate that the Court responded to such criticism; and that it finally recognized that the genocide merited charging those responsible for it.
This would be the first time in Israel’s history that it faced formal charges of genocide. It will be the first time its prime minister and top generals will be charged with war crimes before an international tribunal. If they are found guilty, it will be the first time any Israeli figure has been judged and faced prison for his crimes. It would be the first time a leader of a western “democracy” (or one that fancies itself one) faces the ICC, a pattern of bias noted by the Court’s critics. It is a monumental development.
There will be consternation in Jerusalem as the suspects face the prospect that their impunity may be ending, and that they may eventually sit in the dock in The Hague as a suspect of genocide. Thus, they would join the company of convicted war criminals like Radovan Karadic, Slobodan Milosevic (committed suicde before trial), Joseph Kony, Moamar Gaddafi, etc. Israel, already a pariah state in many global circles, could lose the support of key allies. They may decide that the cost of supporting a country whose leaders face war crimes charges is too great. The suspects will be wanted throughout the world and their foreign travel will be severely limited, unless countries refuse to enforce the warrants. This would open them up to criticism as well.
We will have to wait and see next month to determine if the reports are correct.
12 thoughts on “BREAKING: Israel Expects ICC Arrest Warrants Next Month – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم”
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ICC Karim Khan …
New appointments gave me some hope:
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or the “Court”), Mr Karim A.A. Khan KC, is pleased to announce the appointment of new Special Advisers pursuant to article 42.9 of the Rome Statute:
Prof. Rene Fernando Urueña Hernandez – Special Adviser on Complementarity (Bio); Prof. Valerie Oosterveld – Special Adviser on Crimes Against Humanity (Bio); and
Further to previously announced appointments (see here and here), the selection of the new Special Advisers is intended to create a network of experts representing different regions of the world with cultural, linguistic, and gender diversity.
The ICC Prosecutor’s appointments are a mixed bag. The appointment of Kevin Jon Heller as an advisor on War Crimes bodes well, since he has been an outspoken critic of the government of Israel and the IDF. But the retention of US-Israeli citizen Theodor Meron as the advisor on International Humanitarian Law is outrageous.
He was the Israeli Foreign Ministry Legal Counsel who famously wrote the classified 1967 memo stating that establishment of civilian settlements in the occupied territories would violate the Geneva Conventions, but went on to advise the tactics and hasbara that the Israeli government has employed ever since. He also served as the Israeli government representative to UN Human Rights Council where he employed the bias and antisemitism charges to challenge fact finding mission reports. He served as a President of the of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia, where he was accused by a Danish jurist of acting to acquit Serb and Croat leaders convicted of war crimes lest the same standard of complicity is applied to American and Israeli leaders.
Si la procédure des mandats d’arrêt aboutit, l’intervention du 7 octobre aura réussi quelque chose d’exceptionnel. Ce ne sera que justice pour les populations brisées de Gaza.
The irony and shame: that Israeli leaders in the name of the “Jewish state” would be held accountable for genocide. 33, 000 deaths, Gaza mostly destroyed, and apparently more to come, no end. And we are still waiting for our government to hold off military aid; we are complicit in this crime.
34k confirmed killed plus 8k officially missing and most likely dead as well.
So that’s 42k total, and we have to consider the fact that since Gaza’s medical system has broken down entirely, there are most likely hundreds to thousands of deaths that we don’t know about.
So it’s not a stretch to say that the real death toll at this point is around the 50k mark if not higher. 85-90% of these are civilians also.
It is not true that the Prosecutor has not tried to enter Gaza. He has made repeated efforts over the past few months. Israel has rejected his requests every time.
@ Kevin Jon Heller: I read the statements he made at Rafah and he made no mention that he’d attempted to enter Gaza. I did find a Guardian article from last month which said this:
It is understood Khan has attempted to arrange visits to Gaza but Israel has refused him entry.
This is an exceedingly vague statement. How is it “understood?” Why hasn’t Khan or someone on ICC staff made a clearer statement? I don’t doubt it’s true. But this is an opaque way to address the issue.
I find the possibility that warrants for Netanyahu and his generals be issued by the iCC, literally impossible but I hope I am wrong. We constantly hear from Western leaders how they are committed to support Israel, it’s right to defend itself, etc… Biden even went to Israel to give Netanyahu, his and the U.S.’s unconditional support at the start of the war. I just can’t imagine these leaders’ spin on why they supported a war criminal. Democratic countries are supposed to be so human and compassionate. The fact we are letting a genocide happen AND we are supporting the perpetrators, is horrible.
From one war criminal to another … Iraq Abu Ghraib … roots ISIS … destruction Libya … Syria … impunity … the long arc of justice … decisions by ICC and ICJ will be refuted and rejected … Biden’s NWO presides … US Congress is horrible … EP moving is same direction … right-wing, populism in politics … disinformation at the top … war narrative.
In international law war crime + dolus specialis of physical group destruction becomes genocide.
In US federal law, probably the lesser standard of express malice is required for a war crime (18 U.S. Code § 2441) to become genocide (18 U.S. Code § 1091).
Israel has become the gold standard for genocide and has replaced the genocide gold standard of Nazi Germany.
Too many people have a problem with a fact that should be obvious.
A group subjected to genocide at the hands of a first set of genocide-perpetrators (e.g., Nazis) can later themselves form a second set of genocide-perpetrators (e.g., post-Judaism Zionists) just as evil as the first set of genocide-perpetrators.
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Given that Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan is a politically astute figure, it’s likely he has already made key states aware of his plans. He would not have made this decision without feeling certain it would be supported–or at least not opposed–by Israel’s European allies, who have leveled criticism of Israel’s slaughter in Gaza.
ICC Karim Khan …
New appointments gave me some hope:
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or the “Court”), Mr Karim A.A. Khan KC, is pleased to announce the appointment of new Special Advisers pursuant to article 42.9 of the Rome Statute:
Prof. Rene Fernando Urueña Hernandez – Special Adviser on Complementarity (Bio); Prof. Valerie Oosterveld – Special Adviser on Crimes Against Humanity (Bio); and
Further to previously announced appointments (see here and here), the selection of the new Special Advisers is intended to create a network of experts representing different regions of the world with cultural, linguistic, and gender diversity.
Earlier:
ICC Prosecutor Mr Karim A.A. Khan QC appoints Seventeen Special Advisers
https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/icc-prosecutor-mr-karim-aa-khan-qc-appoints-seventeen-special-advisers
You are citing an older list. Some additional appointments were made during the Gaza war in November of 2023.
https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/icc-prosecutor-karim-aa-khan-kc-appoints-new-special-advisers-provides-update-portfolios
The ICC Prosecutor’s appointments are a mixed bag. The appointment of Kevin Jon Heller as an advisor on War Crimes bodes well, since he has been an outspoken critic of the government of Israel and the IDF. But the retention of US-Israeli citizen Theodor Meron as the advisor on International Humanitarian Law is outrageous.
He was the Israeli Foreign Ministry Legal Counsel who famously wrote the classified 1967 memo stating that establishment of civilian settlements in the occupied territories would violate the Geneva Conventions, but went on to advise the tactics and hasbara that the Israeli government has employed ever since. He also served as the Israeli government representative to UN Human Rights Council where he employed the bias and antisemitism charges to challenge fact finding mission reports. He served as a President of the of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia, where he was accused by a Danish jurist of acting to acquit Serb and Croat leaders convicted of war crimes lest the same standard of complicity is applied to American and Israeli leaders.
Thx
I had Kevin Jon Heller in mind, couldn’t find the article.
https://politicalscience.ku.dk/staff/Academic_staff/?pure=en/persons/695418
Si la procédure des mandats d’arrêt aboutit, l’intervention du 7 octobre aura réussi quelque chose d’exceptionnel. Ce ne sera que justice pour les populations brisées de Gaza.
The irony and shame: that Israeli leaders in the name of the “Jewish state” would be held accountable for genocide. 33, 000 deaths, Gaza mostly destroyed, and apparently more to come, no end. And we are still waiting for our government to hold off military aid; we are complicit in this crime.
34k confirmed killed plus 8k officially missing and most likely dead as well.
So that’s 42k total, and we have to consider the fact that since Gaza’s medical system has broken down entirely, there are most likely hundreds to thousands of deaths that we don’t know about.
So it’s not a stretch to say that the real death toll at this point is around the 50k mark if not higher. 85-90% of these are civilians also.
It is not true that the Prosecutor has not tried to enter Gaza. He has made repeated efforts over the past few months. Israel has rejected his requests every time.
@ Kevin Jon Heller: I read the statements he made at Rafah and he made no mention that he’d attempted to enter Gaza. I did find a Guardian article from last month which said this:
This is an exceedingly vague statement. How is it “understood?” Why hasn’t Khan or someone on ICC staff made a clearer statement? I don’t doubt it’s true. But this is an opaque way to address the issue.
I find the possibility that warrants for Netanyahu and his generals be issued by the iCC, literally impossible but I hope I am wrong. We constantly hear from Western leaders how they are committed to support Israel, it’s right to defend itself, etc… Biden even went to Israel to give Netanyahu, his and the U.S.’s unconditional support at the start of the war. I just can’t imagine these leaders’ spin on why they supported a war criminal. Democratic countries are supposed to be so human and compassionate. The fact we are letting a genocide happen AND we are supporting the perpetrators, is horrible.
From one war criminal to another … Iraq Abu Ghraib … roots ISIS … destruction Libya … Syria … impunity … the long arc of justice … decisions by ICC and ICJ will be refuted and rejected … Biden’s NWO presides … US Congress is horrible … EP moving is same direction … right-wing, populism in politics … disinformation at the top … war narrative.
In international law war crime + dolus specialis of physical group destruction becomes genocide.
In US federal law, probably the lesser standard of express malice is required for a war crime (18 U.S. Code § 2441) to become genocide (18 U.S. Code § 1091).
Israel has become the gold standard for genocide and has replaced the genocide gold standard of Nazi Germany.
Too many people have a problem with a fact that should be obvious.
A group subjected to genocide at the hands of a first set of genocide-perpetrators (e.g., Nazis) can later themselves form a second set of genocide-perpetrators (e.g., post-Judaism Zionists) just as evil as the first set of genocide-perpetrators.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13327347/israel-war-crime-netanyahu-gaza-international-criminal-court.html
Came across “Our President” the Senator 17 years ago … interview
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4129765,00.html
Biden on Israel and the Iraq War … Release spy Pollard over my dead body …