Goebbels would be proud of the ICC
By Neville Berman
Under what is known as the Oslo Accords, Israel left Gaza in 2005 and handed the entire territory over to the newly created Palestinian Authority led by Yasser Arafat. Two years later Hamas overthrew the Palestinian Authority and forcefully took control of Gaza. Since then, Hamas has fired over 27,000 rockets at southern Israel. On October 7, 2023 Hamas attacked Israel and killed 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages. They proudly filmed themselves committing rapes, murdering families, beheading and burning babies and other atrocities. Every one of these actions are without any doubt crimes against humanity. To this day the United Nations has refused to pass a single resolution condemning Hamas for the crimes it has committed.
Instead of commending the State of Israel for defending itself after the atrocities committed by Hamas, the International Criminal Court (ICC) decided to issue international arrest warrants for Bibi Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the Prime Minister and former Defense Minister of Israel. Amongst many accusations, they are being charged with committing crimes against humanity, including the crime of starvation against the Palestinians in Gaza. The warrants are a grotesque inversion of what international law and justice should be.
Immediately after the arrest warrants were issued, Josep Borrell, the High Representative of Foreign Affairs of the European Union, announced that all 120 countries that are members of the ICC are obligated to arrest those charged, if they enter any member county. As there are 193 countries that are members of the United Nations, the remaining 73 countries that are not members of the ICC have no such obligation. The United States of America is one of those 73 countries. Emmanuel Macron, the French President, has already announced that France will not arrest the Israeli leaders if they visit France. France is a member of the ICC, and this really shows that the antisemitic pronouncements by the ICC and Josep Borrell are beyond the pale. To make matters even more ridiculous the ICC has attempted to show its evenhandedness by issuing a farcical arrest warrant for one Hamas leader who is no longer alive.
According to its own website the ICC has a budget for 2024 of over 187 million Euros. It employs approximately 900 people who are supposed to gather evidence and investigate serious crimes against humanity. Since its inception in 2002, the ICC has issued 59 arrest warrants, 21 people have actually been detained, and 11 convictions have been issued. What this means is that just over a third of those charged actually end up standing trial, and nearly half of those are found not guilty, and that on average the ICC has actually achieved one conviction every two years. These facts are quite amazing when one considers that in the 22 years of the existence of the ICC, millions of people have been killed in wars, and millions more have become refugees. Clearly the ICC is a political farce.
Israel has been singled out by the ICC for defending itself in a war initiated by sworn enemies that have demonstrated their absolute determination to eradicate the State of Israel. Every government has the obligation to defend its country. The singling out of Israel by the ICC is a decision that will, to borrow a phrase by President Roosevelt, “live in infamy.” It is most unlikely that Bibi Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant will ever stand in the dock of the ICC in the Hague. The question that now arises is why is the ICC issuing arrest warrants against the leaders of Israel?
The answer is clear. The ICC is deliberately promoting the demonization of Jews and Israel. This demonization is not something new. The church has been demonizing Jews for over 2,000 years. The United Nations and the liberal press have been demonizing Israel ever since its inception in 1948. Major Arab oil exporting countries are using their wealth to promote Islam all across the world and to undermine Israel and the West. Qatar has financed the establishment of Middle Eastern Study departments at many major American universities.
They have used the American constitutional right to free speech to spread hatred against Jews and Israel. They have turned American campuses into battlegrounds for Jewish students. The TV Channel Al Jazeera, broadcasting from Qatar, has hundreds of millions of viewers that are subjected to a constant demonization of Israel. Social media is aimed largely at gullible young people. They are easily influenced by the constant one-sided view of the war in Gaza. The International Court of Justice recently heard a case in which South Africa accused Israel of committing genocide. The whole purpose of the trial was to get the word “genocide” associated with Israel. They succeeded. The latest actions by the ICC are further steps in trying to demonize Jews and Israel. It has nothing to do with justice.
The result of all of the above is a tsunami of protests across the world calling to stop Israeli genocide and the replacement of Israel by a Palestinian State from the river to the sea. Goebbels would be proud of the worldwide actions that are now taking place. Many of the people protesting are not evil. They are simply ignorant. What a shame that they have no idea about what they are protesting about.
President Biden has announced that the decision of the ICC is outrageous. Come January 20th Trump will become the American President. Karim Ahmad Kahn, the Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, will then need to face the consequences of his actions.
About the writer:
Accountant Neville Berman had an illustrious sporting career in South Africa, being twice awarded the South African State Presidents Award for Sport and was a three times winner of the South African Maccabi Sportsman of the Year Award. In 1978 he immigrated to the USA to coach the United States men’s field hockey team, whereafter, in 1981 he immigrated to Israel where he practiced as an accountant and then for 20 years was the Admin Manager at the American International School in Even Yehuda, Israel. He is married with two children and one granddaughter.
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Excellent article. The word ‘criminal’ in their name ‘International Criminal Court’ well describes them.