By P.I. Gomes
The writer is a Former Secretary-General of the Organisation of African, Caribbean & Pacific States (OACPS), Brussels, Belgium.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad & Tobago | 24 October 2024 (IDN) — Israel’s genocidal war against Hamas in the State of Palestine marked a turning point by the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on 16 October 12024, in a fire fight in southern Gaza, with a unit of Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Sinwar’s death has been celebrated as a significant success by Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Emboldened by this “victory” and in a triumphalist tone, Netanyahu declared it is not the end of war (in Gaza) but the beginning of the end. As if deluded by an obsession for war rather than diplomacy, to be the ultimate guarantee of Israel’s security, his words conveyed that military might of Israel and unflinching support by the current US administration was a justified vindication for escalation and pursuit of a wider war.
The death of Hamas’ leader, in Netanyahu’s view was the beginning of the end, not by a negotiated ceasefire but war to achieve the end—to decimate and eventually obliterate—Hamas and Hezbollah. The fortuitous circumstances that favoured the “beginning” of that end of Hezbollah were found in the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah by an Israeli bombardment on 27 September 2024 in Dalhieh, Lebanon.
As various media reports indicate that intention has been translated into the extensive military engagements in the “northern front” of Israel that borders Lebanon. that has been opened for a special military operation, nothing less than widespread bombardment, invasion and destruction of Lebanon; and ultimately aiming at obliteration of Hezbollah.
What Prime Minister Netanyahu conceived to be a “victory” did not in his view present an opportunity for a ceasefire in Gaza and release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Rather, rejecting even, a hint of ending the genocide across Gaza, Netanyahu’s oppressively uncompromising prosecution of war on land, sea and air presents a sad spectacle, now seen worldwide.
Civilian casualties, the siege of North Gaza, Invasion & Bombing of Beirut
After one year of relentless bombardment by the IDF, use of heavy artillery and advanced weaponry—supplied by the USA, UK, Germany and other western countries—the civilised world is daily witness to a tragic destruction, dispossession and death of at least 42,000 Palestinians, among whom, as estimated by the UN Refugee agency (UNRWA), are 20,000 children, thousands of women, the elderly and more than 90,000 persons injured or buried under rubble of residential homes, schools, hospitals, places of worship.
By what measure of rationality or humanity can as such be seen as a “victory”?
But rather, as shown in the work of Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, those actions and their intent objectively amount to and reach the threshold of war crimes and crimes against humanity in contravention of Geneva Conventions on war and violation of the UN Charter.[1]
For these, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan on 20 May 2024 requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yovan Galant, Israel’s Minister of Defense as well for the Hamas leaders, Mohammed Deif, Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.
The latter have died; assassinated in the case of Deif and Haniyeh, and Sinwar was killed in a gun fight, just a week ago (16 October 2024). Ironically, the deaths of the Hamas accused of war crimes rescind any possibility of their trial by the ICC, were warrants to have been granted. However, the contrary is applicable in the instance of the accused Israeli Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, who are alive and continue to indisputably discharge their official duties, persisting in the prosecution of a war with systematic brutality and horrific atrocities against Palestinians, Hamas and Hezbollah.
Although as of now, the likelihood of arrests of Netanyahu and Gallant is almost completely unreal on both legal and political grounds. For instance, Israel has not subscribed to the Rome Statute establishing the ICC and is not subject to its jurisdiction also Israel has submitted formal challenges against the legality of the requested warrants.
Moreover, politically US President Biden unequivocally expressed support for Netanyahu regarding as “outrageous”, the application for warrants against the Prime Minister. Additionally, some members of the US Congress have threatened to retaliate against the ICC by imposing sanctions against the court’s officials.
However, these are political complexities of prevailing political office holders but history should not cloud us to naïvely regard the apparent slow “inaction” of the ICC, presently as the final verdict on serious charges that may reach the chambers of a court to determine guilt or acquittal from accusations against Netanyahu and Gallant under articles 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute. These relate to such actions as starvation of civilians; wilfully causing great suffering or cruel treatment; intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population…; extermination and/or murder… in the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity.
The demands of justice may only be fulfilled after long and complex processes. It is to the impartiality and integrity of the ICC on which I would place confidence in a just ending of today’s tragic war in Gaza for which a ceasefire now is urgently needed. [IDN-InDepthNews]
Photo: South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the ICJ, the Hague, 12 January 2024. CC BY-SA 4.0
[1] Cf Anatomy of a Genocide – Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 to Human Rights Council -Advanced unedited version (A/HRC/55/73).
