Just International

Israel dodging the ICC probe with prospective partners-in-crime

By Ranjan Solomon

It is no surprise that the US has chosen to back Israel in its confrontation with the ICC. This unequivocally illustrates United States’ resolute loyalty to ‘Israel’s’ security while simultaneously disregarding Zionist genocidal crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.

There is speculation that Israel is in backroom talks with EU States to push the ICC back and even have the investigation called off. In the meantime, Israel will do all it can to delay the investigation hoping that Prosecutor Bensouda will retire and be replaced by British prosecutor Karim Khan. There is speculation that Karim Khan, might just call off or water down the probe. Israel’s desperate lobbying shows how a fearful it is to be exposed to an honest probe. Israel argues that it has its own judicial system where a probe can be carried out. Israel contends that it can investigate itself and hence an external probe is redundant .The world knows beyond doubt that Israel’s judicial system cannot be trusted to deliver a verdict of guilt against war crimes and various other violations of international law that Israel has committed.

The US has proven that a racist-colonialist-apartheid regime is the kind of political system US administrations, whether Republican or Democrats, will back any day – political ethics be damned. The numbers that will stand for an ethical line of action against Israel’s intransigencies are politically insignificant.

The launch of the ICC probe has also left Liberal Zionist groups in a quandary. They concur with Palestinians against the occupation but are unable to stand up and be counted when it comes to the probe against Israel’s criminalities.

Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq reports how, in 2000 alone, Israel seized the Corona-driven crises to press on with its settler project and heap on tyrannical measures against Palestinians in all their places of residence. War on Want reinforces this view when it claims that “a core part of what sustains that occupation is a military judicial system characterized by violations of international law”.

Yet, these facts are the mere tip of the iceberg. 37 Palestinian workers trying to cross into Israel through breaches in the separation barrier since the start of 2020; 23 were shot last year according to the UN. In the first two months of this year, 14 were shot under the same circumstances according to a report from Haaretz.

And the world watches muffled.

Please read these notes and links and disseminate widely.

Ranjan Solomon

7 March 2021

Source: palestineupdates.com