U.S. Welcomes Globally Wanted War Criminal Netanyahu
On November 21st, the International Criminal Court issued warrants to arrest Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of defense Yoav Gallant.
The ICC found reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant bear criminal responsibility for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare.
According to ICC’s official statement, both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity. This finding is based on the role of Netanyahu and Gallant in impeding humanitarian aid in violation of international humanitarian law and their failure to facilitate relief by all means at its disposal. The Chamber found that their conduct led to the disruption of the ability of humanitarian organizations to provide food and other essential goods to the population in need in Gaza. The aforementioned restrictions together with cutting off electricity and reducing fuel supply also had a severe impact on the availability of water in Gaza and the ability of hospitals to provide medical care.
In addition, by intentionally limiting or preventing medical supplies and medicine from getting into Gaza, in particular anesthetics and anesthesia machines, the two individuals are also responsible for inflicting great suffering by means of inhumane acts on persons in need of treatment. Doctors were forced to operate on wounded persons and carry out amputations, including on children, without anesthetics, and were forced to use inadequate and unsafe means to sedate patients, causing these persons extreme pain and suffering. This amounts to the crime against humanity of other inhumane acts.
The Chamber also found reasonable grounds to believe that the abovementioned conduct deprived a significant portion of the civilian population in Gaza of their fundamental rights, including the rights to life and health, and that the population was targeted based on political and national grounds. It therefore found that the crime against humanity of persecution was committed.
Finally, the Chamber assessed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population of Gaza.
The ICC’s top prosecutor, Karim Khan, urged the body’s 124 members to act on the arrest warrants, and called on countries that are not members of the ICC to work together towards “upholding international law”.
The US has previously welcomed ICC war crimes warrants against Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials. However, for the warrants of arrest Netanyahu, the US National Security Council said “The United States has been clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter,” issued a statement fundamentally rejecting the court’s decision.
