The petition takes place in the context of an investigation into war crimes committed in the war that has not ceased in the Gaza Strip since October 2023. Gazaafter the terrorist attacks that the Israeli population was subjected to by Hamas, in the southern part of the Hebrew nation, on October 7 of that year.
Khan’s decision, announced through the ICC portal on May 20, is questioned by governments around the world for “matching” the bloody events that have occurred since then, the defensive actions ordered by the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, with three of the Hamas leaders: Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri (Deif), Ismail Haniyeh.
Yahya Sinwar is the current leader of the Palestinian Islamist and extremist organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip, since 2017, and the second, nicknamed El Deif (the Guest), is known as a bomb maker and responsible for suicide attacks in Tel Aviv, in 1996.
Netanyahu, who considers the tax decision “a moral outrage of historic proportions,” called on the “nations of the civilized world” to refuse to carry out any international criminal court arrest warrants issued against their leaders.
On Saturday, October 7, at dawn, Hamas commandos carried out a surprise attack on family settlements in southern Israel, in the Gaza Strip, as well as a music festival filled with young people, killing more than 1,200 people, in mostly civilians. In addition, they kidnapped others, more than 250, of whom 124 remain hostages and 37 died, according to Army reports.
Since then, more than 35,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza, in Israel’s offensive in retaliation for the bloody attack, according to data not confirmed by any independent organization, according to news agencies that report statistics reported by the authorities of the Strip. Gaza in Hamas control.
But, in addition, the requests for Khan’s arrest have raised suspicion due to the speed in his decision on Israel-Gaza, seven months after the events, while other investigations for crimes against humanity, such as the case of Venezuela after seven years of process , are still pending decision.
Israel-Hamas decision, without context
“There is a lot to distinguish here between what the ICC prosecutor wants to see and what he does not want to see, in his investigation he does not take into account the context,” says Joseph Hage, political analyst, specialist in the Middle East and counterterrorism, commenting Khan’s decision.
The ICC prosecutor decided that in the conflict, senior Israeli officials “bear criminal responsibility” for six crimes against humanity: “starving civilians as a method of war,” causing serious harm or cruel treatment, intentional homicide or murder. , intentionally attacking a civilian population, extermination and persecution, “among other inhuman acts in the territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza Strip), contemplated in the Rome Statute.
Meanwhile, Hamas members are held responsible for seven crimes: extermination as a crime against humanity, murder, taking hostages, rape and other acts of sexual violence, torture as a crime against humanity and war crime, cruel treatment, outrage against personal dignity and other inhuman acts.
For Hage, the context is that Israel is searching for the terrorists who attacked its Israeli settlements and brutalized the civilian population, and also freeing kidnapped hostages. It is not difficult to understand that this (the Hamas attack) was premeditated, she says. “The resistance attacks military targets, but terrorists attack civilians, rape women.”
“Israel’s objective is the same and has not changed: recover its hostages dead or alive and dismantle the military apparatus of Hamas, and there is no going back, because if Israel loses the war, it would be the target of every terrorist attack forever. ”.
In his analysis, Hage points out that in the case of Hamas “the priority is the survival of the leadership in the Gaza Strip; They use civilian shelters, and they are willing to do anything and more.”
Although prosecutor Khan, in his decision, points out that the three Hamas leaders “planned and instigated the commission of crimes on October 7, 2023,” and that he was able to verify this after visiting a couple of Kibbutz, the site of the Supernova Music Festival in Re’im, and speaking with survivors, Hage believes he should have investigated more, including the hunger situation attributed to Netanyahu as a war crime.
“All food supplies entering the Gaza Strip are confiscated by Hamas and stored in its warehouses, although there are limitations to the supply. Not everything he says reflects reality, and even the reporters see it,” he says.
In response to the tax request, Hage affirms that the reaction is “outrage on the part of Israel and honor and historic victory on the part of Hamas,” but the situation makes it clear that “Israel has lost the public relations and information war.” . “The Hamas camp is an ally of the entire world left and the majority of the international press.”
Although the political analyst shares the prosecutor’s argument that the right of states to defend their population does not exempt them from the obligation to comply with international humanitarian law, he raises questions similar to those that other experts ask.
“Why is this prosecutor so selective in requesting prosecution; where is the investigation of a genocide like the one that the president of Syria, Bashar Háfez al-Ássad, carried out with the Palestinians in the Al Yamurk camp, because they refused to participate at his side in the civil war, he locked them in the camp and there were thousands of deaths; “Where is the ICC prosecutor’s investigation and why does he not issue an arrest warrant against Bashar Al Assad, who has committed more crimes in Syria than all those who died in the Middle East in the last 50 years?” he asks.
Why the rush on Gaza
Other political analysts, like Hage, have doubts about the speed with which the ICC prosecutor gathered evidence for the indictment request in such a short time, and cite other older cases, such as the Venezuela case, which are progressing more slowly.
Experts in international justice assure that the difference between the cases is in the immediacy, that is, obtaining direct information about the facts and through various sources.
“The prosecutor was able to visit areas of Israel and Palestine in December 2023, had direct verification of the events and should have left his staff there, which allowed him to see things more closely and collect what he later considered necessary clues to request the appearances,” they point out.
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The case is different from that of Venezuela, whose investigation formally began in 2018, which marks the calendar. “What has happened are delaying maneuvers by the State (Venezuelan regime),” say the lawyers.
One of the maneuvers occurred in 2023 when the official representation of the Venezuelan State promised to send six necessary annexes, “and ended up sending one annex per month, that is, it delayed the case for six months.” In addition, there were appeals declared inliminethat is, outside the procedure, unnecessary, although legal.
“That is why there is a notable difference in the cases, not attributable to the prosecutor or the procedure.”
Added to this is that the Venezuelan State does not collaborate, unlike Israel, to ensure that the investigation is carried out quickly.
“The Venezuelan State not only adheres to constant maneuvers or delaying tactics, but it also does not collaborate. For the prosecution to be able to carry out tours, the State has to admit them and that has not happened in Venezuela. If there is no collaboration from the States, the cases are delayed,” explains the consulted expert.
The International Criminal Court has no time limit to order the arrests requested by prosecutor Karim Khan.
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Source: Interview with political analyst Joseph Hage, lawyers, ICC, agencies
