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Former Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, said that the US administration made a mistake when it accepted the International Criminal Court’s accusation against Russian President Vladimir Putin for committing war crimes in Ukraine, and it makes another mistake by refusing to charge Israeli leaders similarly.
In an article in Foreign Policy magazine, Roth wrote that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fears that he will soon face charges of committing war crimes in Gaza by the International Criminal Court, prompting him to appeal to the administration of US President Joe Biden for help.
Reports indicate that Washington is trying to persuade the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, not to bring charges. However, according to Roth, who is currently a visiting professor at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, its legal and practical arguments are weak.
Although Khan has not disclosed his plans, it is likely that he intends to charge Netanyahu with obstructing the flow of food and other humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip.
Khan has already warned the Israeli government that this obstruction may prompt the International Criminal Court to take action.
Given Israel’s refusal to allow ICC investigators into Gaza, the obstruction, which has led to conditions conducive to a widely recognized famine, provides, according to Roth, stronger evidence – among other evidence – of Israel’s indiscriminate and disproportionate bombing of Palestinian civilians.
Top leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) may also face charges of committing “atrocities” in the attack on Israel on October 7, according to the article’s author.
Although Israel spares no effort to deny its obstruction of humanitarian aid to Gaza, the former director of Human Rights Watch, an international human rights organization, believes that Netanyahu’s denial of the blockade strategy he pursues is unbelievable, as extensive reports speak of Israeli officials putting unnecessary obstacles to prevent relief materials from reaching the Palestinian territory.
The Foreign Policy article described Netanyahu’s government’s threat of revenge against the Palestinian Authority if Israeli leaders are charged by the International Criminal Court as portending the collapse of that authority.
Roth considered this threat akin to shooting oneself, given what the Palestinian Authority provides Israel in firmly controlling the population of the West Bank, which suffers under occupation.
The article criticized the US administration’s claim that the International Criminal Court does not have jurisdiction to prosecute citizens of non-member states, even if they commit crimes on the territory of a member state.
Roth said that Washington’s refusal to recognize the court contradicts its accusation against Russian President Putin of committing war crimes in Ukraine, which Biden considered “justified” and the US Senate unanimously approved.
Roth concluded in his article that Netanyahu is currently a major obstacle to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, adding that he adopts extremist positions because he is indebted to the extremist ministers, Smotrich and Ben Gvir, in hopes of staying in power and avoiding potential imprisonment on corruption charges he was involved in before the current war broke out.
Source: Al Jazeera
