Letter to the Readers, Mainstream, Nov 23, 2024

Arrest warrants [1] from the International Criminal Court (ICC) on November 21 for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu & former defence minister Yoav Gallant are of great significance for international justice. The court that came into force in 2002 has an impeccable reputation for following rigorous investigative standards on crimes of Genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Its attempts to book top officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Darfur, Sudan, Libya and the Russian Federation have gone well with Western powers that call the shots as long as it didn’t rock their boat. ICC indicting top Israeli officials is a very challenging move and is likely to face huge headwinds. Israel (like the US, India China and Russia) is not party to the Rome treaty that created the ICC. Netanyahu and Gallant have reacted to the ICC move, with their usual mud-slinging at the credibility of International institutions like the UN, —“that this is due to antisemitic bias of the ICC & the UN’ [2], [3]. For many years before these arrest warrants Israel has tried to intimidate the ICC officials [4]. There is nothing anti-Semitic about these ICC arrest warrants, which must be supported [5], [6]. As expected US President Biden has criticised the ICC warrants, like all top US politicians do as if they have no choice. But other major countries of the powerful west have acknowledged the ICC warrants and suggest they would arrest the Israelis if the opportunity arises [7]. This lends much credence and weight to efforts by the ICC to bring to book those involved in war crimes. It is time for India’s left & democratic opposition parties to extend support to the ICC and call for its official recognition by India.

November 23, 2024 —HK
[updated on Nov 26]