The current ICC arrest warrants may be a game changer …

Or, they may amount to nothing and may not even be executed at the end of the process.  It is clear that the judges who brought the charges are under threat as we’ve seen so often:

“U.S. AGAIN THREATENS ICC IF ISRAELI CRIMINALS FACE JUSTICE – Washington is drawing draft legislation as a “precautionary measure” to threaten PROSECUTORS and International Court’s officials against arrest warrants for Israeli officials war criminals. Congressman Michael McCaul says legislation is being written and ICC prosecutor Khan has been “contacted”. (They probably tried to threaten the life out the man as we’ve seen previously). “We want to emphasize to him that going down this road of arrest warrants is a really bad idea and it will blow up the relationship” – McCaul.”

The time when the US Lawfare baton fails may be at hand.

Before we start with the detail, this comes from Serbia.  A note from there reads to make sure that the charges will stick, otherwise, it could be a feint and if brought to a court and Netanyahu is innocent, he cannot be brought before the court again.  I thought to mention this because game changers are scare phenomena.  In addition, I use Netanyahu and Putin and not necessarily everyone charged with them.  This does not yet include the charges against certain Hamas leaders – there is something weird here – since when do part parties in court become the accused?

It has taken 15 years since Palestine first sought the jurisdiction of the ICC (International Criminal Court – affairs of individuals more or less) to address the Israel-Palestine conflict for the ICC to act. But now it finally has. It is so close to the proceedings of the ICJ (International Court of Justice – affairs of groups, countries and states more or less) literally days apart.   The timing of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor’s application, just days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) heard South Africa’s request for additional provisional measures, is significant. Will we now see these two institutions working in parallel or even just doing their jobs in a fair and visibly reasonable manner?

Let’s compare the charge against Putin early last year from this self-same ICC with the one against Netanyahu.

Putin & others stand accused by the ICC of

1- “unlawful deportation and transfer of population”,

Netanyahu and others stand accused by the ICC of:

1- Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare 

2- Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health, or cruel treatment as a war crime

3- Wilful killing, or Murder as a war crime – Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime

4- Extermination and/or murder, including in the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity

5- Persecution as a crime against humanity

6- Other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity

Assist Prof of Law @OsgoodeNews, Heidi Matthews from Toronto created a thread on this.  I used her thread as the basis:

🔹🔹🔹🔹

Today will go down in the history of international law. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has applied for arrest warrants against Netanyahu & Gallant and Sinwar, Deif & Haniyeh. It’s a game changer in global politics & the Israel-Palestine conflict.🧵 https://t.co/VYgFUI3zWs

— Heidi Matthews (@Heidi__Matthews) May 20, 2024

The Prosecutor says that “notwithstanding any military goals they may have, the means Israel chose to achieve them in Gaza – namely, intentionally causing death, starvation, great suffering, and serious injury to body or health of the civilian population – are criminal.”

The timing of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor’s application, just days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) heard South Africa’s request for additional provisional measures, is significant. We will now see these two institutions working in parallel

This is significant in the context of an ongoing conflict, occupation & genocide. This move at the ICC will put ambient pressure on the ICJ to issue some sort of ceasefire order. It will also influence the factual matrix being considered in the ICJ’s occupation advisory opinion.

The international crimes alleged against Netanyahu and Gallant include starvation as a method of warfare; wilfully causing great suffering or cruel treatment; murder; intentionally targeting civilians; extermination; persecution; and other inhumane acts.

Note first that arrest warrants have not *yet* been issued. The Pre-Trial Chamber must now consider the Prosecutor’s evidence to assess whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that they have committed the alleged crimes (see art 58, Rome Statute).

There’s a big debate about the role of international criminal charges within the context of ongoing hostilities. It’s unclear whether such moves work to exacerbate conflict or contribute to quicker peace. Netanyahu may well defiantly reject the ICC by intensifying the offensive.   But this would be very risky indeed and would only further isolate Israel within the international community. The major political impact of ICC action is to isolate Israel by removing credibility from its claims that it is following international law and acting in self-defence.

Note that genocide has *not* been included in the charges for which arrest warrants are sought. But, Khan emphasized that “Israel has intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population in all parts of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival.”

It is open to the Prosecutor to request the Pre-Trial Chamber to amend any eventual arrest warrants by adding charges & Khan said additional requests for warrants may be forthcoming. So the crimes alleged today are not a final or closed list; they may well be just the beginning.

There’s obviously a tremendous amount to be said about today’s momentous developments and it can’t all be said in one thread. But it’s important to note that most of the crimes alleged against Netanyahu and Gallant have been alleged as *both* war crimes & crimes against humanity.

Different contextual elements are required to establish war crimes & crimes against humanity. For war crimes, the alleged acts must have been committed in the context of an armed conflict & the accused must have been aware of the circumstances establishing the armed conflict.

For crimes against humanity, the alleged acts must have been committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population pursuant to a state or organizational policy, and the accused must have known the conduct was part of this attack.

Another noteworthy legal point is on the mode of responsibility alleged with regard to Netanyahu and Gallant. The Prosecutor says they are individually criminally responsible as both co-perpetrators & as superiors (see arts. 25 & 28, Rome Statute).

The Prosecutor says Netanyahu & Gallant have pursued a common plan to use starvation and other acts of violence against the civilian population as a means to (i) eliminate Hamas; (ii) secure the return of the hostages & (iii) collectively punish the civilian population of Gaza.

Finally, the charges against Sinwar, Deif & Haniyeh include extermination, murder, taking hostages, sexual violence, torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity and other inhumane acts, many both as war crimes & crimes against humanity.

As this develops we should be looking to the reactions from key state allies of Israel: the US, UK & Germany. The Prosecutor’s actions today put these third states in a very difficult position as they are now on notice they may be assisting the commission of international crimes.

🔹🔹🔹🔹

So, we have an outside chance here, those of us who are inherently free people.  We may just have seen something that we have never seen before and we may see Netanyahu forked from two different legal directions.  But, he may also decide to simply intensify if that is even possible, his murderous genocidal assault on the people of Palestine.