Statement of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), jointly issued by the Internationalist Socialist League (RCIT Section in Israel/Occupied Palestine) and the International Bureau of the RCIT, 21.11.2024, https://the-isleague.com/ and www.thecommunists.net

 

 

 

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister, Yoav Gallant. They are charged with “crimes against humanity and war crimes”. The ICC says there are “reasonable grounds” to believe the two officials “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival”. The court also issued an arrest warrant for Mohammed Deif – the leader of the Qassam Brigades, the key force of the armed resistance in Palestine, for more than 20 years.

 

This is an unprecedented and highly remarkable event! The ICC has been a strictly pro-Western institution which, until now, only prosecuted war lords and leaders in Africa, from the Balkans, or Russia’s Putin. The fact that this court has turned now against the most important representatives of Israel – courted by American and European governments – is extraordinary.

 

The reason for this turn is evident: the horrific genocide which the Zionist state has been committed in Gaza since more than one year has provoked a global wave of pro-Palestine protests. A powerful solidarity movement has been born which has similar proportions like the anti-war movement in 1968. These mass protests are putting huge pressure on governments around the world and provoke rifts even among the political elite in Western Europe which is traditionally extremely pro-Zionist.

 

Naturally, those who sympathise with the cause of the suffering Palestinian people will rejoice that, finally, the ICC has issued such arrest warrants against Israeli war criminals, including Netanyahu – the butcher-in-chief. While we are certainly not opposed to these warrants, we warn against illusions in institutions like the Court in The Hague. It is telling that it also issued such a warrant against a leader of the heroic Palestinian resistance which is waging a legitimate war of liberation in Gaza. And let us not forget that chief prosecutor Karim Khan initially also sought warrants against two other Palestinian leaders – Yehya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh – who have been already martyred by the Zionist monster.

 

Let’s be clear: Netanyahu and Gallant are not the only war criminals. The whole political and military elite of the Zionist terror state is guilty of organising one of the worst genocides in modern history. These mass murderers deserve the harshest possible punishment at the hand of the popular masses!

 

 

 

The response in Israel and the U.S.

 

 

 

Israel, of course, has rejected the jurisdiction of the court and denies war crimes in Gaza. The ICC, however, said on Thursday that Israel’s acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction was not required. The Israeli foreign ministry said in September that it had submitted two legal briefs challenging the ICC’s jurisdiction and arguing that the court did not allow Israel to investigate the allegations itself before requesting the warrants. Even the plot against Karim Khan did not help Israel. The pressure of the pro-Palestinian masses was stronger than the threats of the US and Israel.

 

The arrest warrants could increase the isolating pressure on Netanyahu’s government and the Zionist state. Still, they could also strengthen the prime minister’s political position in Israel in the short term, as most Israelis justify the genocide of the Palestinians, deny that Israel is committing genocide, and reject the ICC’s jurisdiction as interference in their country’s internal affairs.

 

Israel is addressing the three judges of the pre-Trial Chamber, which for over four months has been examining the arrest warrants requested by prosecutor Karim Khan against the Israeli prime minister, his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas officials, Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif all of them murdered by Israel.

 

By addressing the judges, Israel recognizes the jurisdiction of the Court. It is remarkable to see Israel accept the legitimacy and standing of the ICC by directly engaging with said Canadian professor of international humanitarian law Mark Kersten.

 

The court decision aroused the ministers and members of the Knesset from all ends of the Zionist political camps, who strongly condemned the issuance of the arrest warrants. The chairman of the state camp, Benny Gantz, was quick to condemn the decision of the International Court of Justice: “The decision of the court in the Hague is moral blindness and a historical disgrace that will never be forgotten. Yair Lapid, another opposition leader called it a prize for terror. Netanyahu's office responded to the arrest warrant by saying that this was the modern Dreyfus trial. There is nothing more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza since October 7, 2023, after the terrorist organization Hamas launched a murderous attack against it, and carried out the greatest massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. The decision was made by a corrupt chief prosecutor who is trying to save his skin from the serious charges against him for sexual harassment and biased judges motivated by anti-Semitic hatred of Israel”.

 

John Kirby, the spokesman for the White House, issued a statement: “The United States fundamentally rejects Court's decision to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials.”

 

The US welcomed ICC war crimes warrants against Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials for atrocities committed in Ukraine while denouncing the court’s order against Netanyahu and Gallant, a hypocritical stance that has exposed the Biden administration to accusations of double standards from many UN members, particularly from the Global South.

 

Congressman Mike Waltz, Trump designated national security adviser said: “Israel has legally defended its people and its borders from murderous terrorists. You can expect a strong reaction to the anti-Semitic bias of the ICC and the UN John Thune, the leader of the Republican majority in the Senate who is expected to take office in January under the Trump administration, referred last week to the possibility of imposing these warrants and said: If the ICC (International Court of Justice in The Hague) and its prosecutor do not cancel their outrageous and illegal actions to exercise arrest warrants against Israeli officials (Netanyahu and Gallant), the Senate should impose sanctions on the court and the prosecutor.”

 

In summary, the ICC arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant is certainly provoking hysteria among Israeli leaders, outcry and embarrassment among Western governments and enthusiasm among the rest of the world. The Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT) and its section in Israel/Occupied Palestine – the Internationalist Socialist League – calls the global pro-Palestine solidarity movement to redouble their efforts to stop the barbaric war of the Zionist state and to advance the liberation struggle of our brothers and sisters in Palestine!

 

* Down with the Zionist monster!

 

* Victory to the Palestinian liberation struggle!