Friday, November 22, 2024

11/22 Links Pt1: ICC’s attack on Israel shows the free world’s moral collapse; Making it a crime for the Jews to defend themselves; Resist the Global Intifada

From Ian:

ICC’s attack on Israel shows the free world’s moral collapse
Let us be clear: Israel does not fight for recognition or approval.

It fights for its survival and for the values that underpin the free world — freedom, democracy and human dignity.

These are the values that Hamas and its backers, including Iran, seek to destroy.

Israel has always adhered to the highest standards of international law, not because it seeks validation from global institutions, but because it is the right thing to do.

The ICC’s hypocrisy will not deter Israel from holding itself to those standards. However, Israel will also not allow its enemies to weaponize those same laws against it.

The ICC’s actions serve as a reminder of the free world’s moral collapse.

Rather than confronting the true threats to global peace, the ICC and other international bodies have chosen the easier path: attacking those who fight to preserve the very freedoms they claim to cherish.

Throughout history, Israel and the Jewish people have often stood alone against overwhelming odds.

They have stood alone against ancient empires, against Nazi Germany and now against jihadist terror.

But they stood — and prevailed.

Today, as Israel faces an onslaught of rockets, terror tunnels and global hypocrisy, it continues to defend not just its people, but the ideals of freedom and justice.

What do you think? Post a comment.

The ICC can issue as many baseless indictments as it pleases, but Israel will not be swayed.

It will continue to fight terror, protect its citizens and uphold the values that the free world so desperately needs.

Because without Israel standing firm, the free world stands no chance.
Brendan O'Neill: Making it a crime for the Jews to defend themselves
For 24 hours straight we’ve been treated to the nauseating spectacle of states and even terror groups that are genuinely murderous welcoming the ICC’s indictment of Israel’s ‘murderers’. Turkey, violent suppressor of the Kurds, described the arrest warrants as an ‘extremely important step’ towards ‘justice’. Jordan, the state that fought a vicious year-long war against the Palestine Liberation Organisation in the 1970s, said it will implement the ICC’s ruling. Even Hamas is now in love with the ICC, despite its indictment of Deif, cheering it for sending an important message to ‘every war criminal’. Guilt by association is bad politics, I know, but, seriously, if your actions make the fascist terrorists of Hamas grin from ear to ear, it is time for a moral rethink.

Then there is the bizarre spectacle of the activist class cheering an institution like the ICC. These are the kind of people who cry ‘white supremacy!’ when Katy Perry wears her hair in cornrows and yet they’re content to simp for a notoriously biased court that mostly targets the leaders of Africa. Most of the people indicted by the ICC have been black Africans. All it did yesterday was add a couple of Jews to the list. Honestly, not since the KKK has there existed an organisation with such a curious obsession with blacks and Jews.

That so many so-called progressives are willing to overlook the ICC’s gross racial track record because it has now issued arrest warrants for leaders of the Jewish nation is a testament to the bigotries swirling in the Israelophobic set. The cacophony of noisy gloating we’ve seen in influential circles since the ICC issued its warrants is proof of the neo-imperial hubris that underpins Israelophobia. The woke elites’ feverish demonisation of Israel echoes the old colonial elites’ demonisation of African and Asian nations as suspect, fallen, lesser. The chauvinist streak in the fashionable hate for Israel suggests that where once our ‘betters’ feared the ‘dark heart’ of Africa, now they fear the ‘dark heart’ of the world’s only Jewish State. New bigotries for old.

Fundamentally, the ICC’s actions speak to the profound moral disarray of the West. Let it be recorded that when something very like fascism returned to our world, the institutions of the ‘rules-based order’ went after the nation that was its victim. When the Jews were once again targeted for racist murder, they went after the Jews. When the very values of the civilised world were upended by the rapists and racists of Hamas, they essentially rewarded Hamas by agreeing with it that the state it hates is indeed the worst state. It isn’t only Israel that has been thrown to the wolves of unreason by the ICC and its powerful backers – so has civilisation itself. These arrest warrants are worthless and offensive. Every civilised state should rip them up.
Matthew Continetti: Resist the Global Intifada
As Israel defeats its enemies on the battlefields in Gaza and Lebanon, the intifada has gone global. The fronts of the war against the Jewish state encompass America's cities, the United Nations, the U.S. Senate, and the International Criminal Court. Marches, resolutions, embargoes, arrest warrants—these are the tactics by which Hamas sympathizers worldwide intend to isolate Israel diplomatically, undermine Israel's war against terrorism, and intimidate the Jewish people.

Only one response is appropriate. America must stand in the breach. America must provide Israel with the cover and support it needs to cripple Hamas and Hezbollah and restore deterrence to the Middle East.

These are perilous times. The president is a lame duck. The vice president is nowhere to be seen. The next administration does not take office until January 20. Thus Israel's adversaries—and America's—sense an opportunity.

This week began, for example, with an anti-Israel march through a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn. The protesters targeted a Jewish community center where a presentation on real estate opportunities in Israel was taking place. Police arrested two individuals when the demonstration turned violent. A few residents described the incident as a nuisance. But that is a mistake. A nuisance is something that can be ignored or forgotten. The Marine Park march cannot be ignored, cannot be excused. Why? Because it is another step toward the normalization of anti-Semitism in the United States of America.

Anti-Semitism is already well entrenched at the United Nations. On November 20, the U.N. Security Council demanded, for the umpteenth time, that Israel submit to a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza. The United States vetoed the resolution. That is because the U.N. proposal failed to call for the release of the more than 60 men, women, and children, including Americans, who are thought to be alive since Hamas kidnapped and took them to underground dungeons on October 7, 2023. The proposal also said nothing about the remains of the innocents who have died in Hamas captivity.

An anti-Israel U.N. resolution is an everyday occurrence. What made this week's proceedings remarkable was the fact that America stood alone in Israel's defense. Fourteen of the 15 Security Council members voted to impose a ceasefire on a democratic nation state. Fourteen of the 15 Security Council members voted to abandon hostages, including babies. Supposedly "advanced" economies such as France and the United Kingdom affirmed this unconscionable measure. They need a remedial education in Western civilization and its principles of moral clarity. Stat.

I know who ought to instruct them: the 80-some U.S. senators, Republicans and Democrats, who on Wednesday evening rejected Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I., Vt.) resolutions to block the sale of weapons to Israel.

On one level, Wednesday's vote was a reaffirmation of the U.S.-Israel relationship and a stinging rebuke to Sanders and to the anti-Zionist Left. On another level, however, the sight of 19 senators, all Democrats or independents who caucus with Democrats, voting to abandon Israel in the middle of its existential war against Iran and its terrorist proxies cannot help but produce a certain anxiety among supporters of the Jewish state.

That a fifth of the U.S. Senate is ignorant of, blind to, or willing to overlook the reality of Hamas and Hezbollah and the Houthis in favor of anti-Israel and anti-Netanyahu propaganda is disturbing enough. That Sanders and company may also be a harbinger of the future direction of the American Left—a future heralded by the anti-Israel turn in the U.K. and Western Europe—is chilling.
Douglas Murray: A judge accused of sexual harassment rushes an outrageous war crime case against Israel
Idiotic, self-destructive and short-sighted nations around the democratic world have signed up to the jurisdiction of the ICC. For now — until it comes back to bite them — they seem to think that a couple of crooked judges from Britain or Africa should be allowed to decide how a sovereign nation is allowed to defend itself.

Which means that the prime minister of the world’s only Jewish state is no longer allowed to land in France, for instance. Or Britain. Or Germany, for that matter.

Indeed, from Thursday, if the prime minister of the Jewish State were to make a visit to Berlin the Germans would have to round up the Jew and imprison him, awaiting future German judgement.

At which point some people might say “well all of these countries are lost, aren’t they. At least Netanyahu can still come and visit his allies in Washington?”

Except that he can’t. As of now a plane carrying the Israeli prime minister might not be allowed to fly over the airspace of any country that could arrest him. If his plane needs to stop to refuel or have technical difficulties then it could be followed by international snitches and he could be arrested on the runway.

This is an outrage of course. But it is one that also affects America. If they can do this to Israel, they can do it to America.

President elect Trump has a historic mandate for many reasons. But now is a good time for him to make something very, very clear.

If you come for America then America will come for you. And if you come for America’s closest allies, then wow will you regret the day.


NY Sun Editorial: Time To Dissolve the International Criminal Court
The ICC’s decision is internally illogical. Israel is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which demarcates the court’s jurisdiction. “Palestine” is not a state. An arrest warrant is issued for Mohammed Deif, but Israel believes that he is now before a higher tribunal, having been killed in July. Warrants for Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh are also moot. Meanwhile, chief prosecutor Karim Khan faces his own sexual harassment scandal.

Then there is the principle of complementarity, sometimes referred to as “the cornerstone” of the ICC’s charter. It means that the court is one of last resort and prosecutes cases only when states do not do so on their own. Israel’s courts, though, have sent a president and prime minister to prison and are even now investigating Mr. Netanyahu. The Jewish state is embarked on a wrenching debate over its judicial system, whose vigor is acknowledged by all sides.

Which brings us back to Trump. Another tribunal, the International Court of Justice, the UN’s court, is mulling whether Israel has committed genocide. America can make it clear that every tool will be arrayed not just against these organs of corruption, but also against the states that aid and abet them. The ICC’s folly is a warning that America has even now mortgaged too much of its sovereignty to world bodies. It’s time for a Trump retrenchment.
Melanie Phillips: The amoral Starmer government
The UK’s support for this pro-Hamas resolution was shocking but surely not remotely surprising to anyone who has been paying attention to the five month-old Labour government under prime minister Sir Keir Starmer. For in a series of hostile gestures, it has sent British relations with Israel into the chiller.

It has repeatedly parroted the lies and distortions about Israel’s behaviour in the war. It has cut off some weapons supplies. It has also said that if the International Criminal Court should grant its chief prosecutor’s request for the court to issue warrants to arrest Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, the British will arrest them if they come to Britain.

Well, today the ICC did indeed issue those arrest warrants that seek to criminalise a just war of defence against war crimes and crimes against humanity. This declaration of lawfare against Israel lines up the Starmer government with the ICC’s unconscionable perversion of truth, reason and international law, and with the obsessional and deranged attempt to destroy Israel through the abuse of justice by some of the most evil and amoral people in the world.

But Starmer appears to be positively falling over himself to line up with evil people. While turning against Israel, which is fighting for civilisation against a barbarism that threatens not just Israel but also Britain and the west, Starmer has unbelievably thrown himself into the arms of the Chinese Communist Party that poses a threat to the free world.
Does the ICC decision to issue arrest warrants against Israeli leaders comply with the rule of law?
Double standards and inference of bias
The Court has a wide discretion to decide which cases to examine, investigate and prosecute. The Court has ignored the most egregious cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity – such as in Syria, Yemen and Iran. And yet, it has decided to use its limited resources to prosecute the leaders of a democratic state (Israel) that is fighting a defensive war against entities bent on its destruction (Iran and its proxies and allies, including Hamas and Hezbollah). This alone raises an inference of bias, and brings the independence of the Court’s functioning into question.

It is strongly arguable that the Palestinian leadership (supported by primarily Arab, Islamic and African states) is using International Criminal Law as a weapon in a political conflict – manipulating the ICC to prosecute Israeli leaders, in order to pursue their political agenda: the establishment of a Palestinian state without negotiation of the core “permanent status” issues mentioned in the Oslo Accords – such as “security, borders and settlements”.

ICC Crimes vs infringements of IHL (International Humanitarian Law)
The definition of crimes against humanity (article 7) requires the Court to be satisfied that the acts are committed “as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population”.

The definition of war crimes (article 8) requires proof that the relevant actions are committed as part of “a plan or policy or as part of a large-scale commission of such crimes”.

War crime of intentionally starving civilians as a method of warfare
A key aspect of this war crime of starvation is the requirement that the perpetrators intentionally used starvation of civilians as a war tactic. ICC states must be satisfied that the Court’s deciusions are based on sufficient proof of both aspects of the crime: (a) intentional starvation of civilans, and (b) the use of starvation as “a method of warfare”.

It is not enough that some civilians may have died through malnutrition. However, neither the Prosecutor nor the Court have disclosed the statements that are purported to be conclusive evidence of this intention. But several highly qualified experts and organisations such as UKLFI have demonstrated, “there are no reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant committed the crimes alleged by the Prosecutor.”

The alleged crimes against humanity
According to the Pre-Trial Chamber’s press release, the Court has decided that two incidents satisfy these requirements. The specific instances have not been published.

The crimes of murder and other “inhumane acts” require the Court to be satisfied that they are committed “as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population” in Gaza. This requires proof that the perpetrators had both the intention and knowledge that the targets were civilians. Such intent is notoriously difficult to prove based on the effects or outcome of the attacks alone. Moreover, in order for the Prime Minister and Defence Minister to be guilty of these crimes, it would need to be established that (a) they knew about these two individual attacks in advance, (b) they personally failed to repress or prevent the attacks, and (c) even if they were aware, they failed to ensure submission of the matter to the competent Israeli authorities. This is a very high burden of proof.
Jonathan Braverman (thread): I would like to address the ICC warrants against PM Netanyahu and former MoD Galant, but I can't. The contents are secret
I would like to address the ICC warrants against PM Netanyahu and former MoD Galant, but I can't. The contents are secret, which means we only know what they’re being accused of – not the facts of the accusation. The charges themselves are very severe, though. (1/30)

They’re accused of the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.[1] (2/30)

Disregarding the fact it is insane in my view that the principle of complementarity is being ignored and the Israeli authorities aren't even given an opportunity to pursue internal processes (an argument I won’t get into because it bores _me_ and I’m an actual lawyer) - (3/30)

I think the warrants are an error in policy. The reason for this is simple: from my personal knowledge of the facts and in my perspective, if the Israeli conduct of hostilities in Gaza is a crime against humanity or consists of a series of war crimes, (4/30)

it is not because Israel is deliberately acting out to enact wanton revenge on anyone that sounds Arab. It’s because the IHL community has arrogantly, and erroneously, decided to raise the moral standard and bar for conduct so high, (5/30)

that it de facto outlaws the ability of nations to wage warfare against non-nation states. This is a heavy claim, so I’m going to do some heavy lifting to explain why I think that. (6/30)
FDD: ‘Corrupt to its Core’: World Reacts to ICC Warrants Against Netanyahu and Gallant
FDD Expert Response
“With Trump due to begin a second term in January, foreign governments will need to think hard about whether they are going to comply with the ICC’s illegitimate warrants. If any foreign government arrests Netanyahu or Gallant, U.S. law authorizes the president to shut the ICC down and even take military action to liberate them. The American Servicemembers Protection Act (aka the ‘Hague Invasion Act’) provides that ‘[t]he President is authorized to use all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any’ official of the United States, or of allies including Israel, specified by name in the statute, ‘who is being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of’ the ICC. Given the dangerous precedent that these warrants set for U.S. officials, Trump may welcome the opportunity to vigorously implement his authorities under the act.” — Orde Kittrie, Senior Fellow

“The consequences for this baseless and illegitimate act of lawfare could be much farther-reaching than the ICC or its boosters expect. The United States has the ability to effectively shut down the ICC by imposing secondary sanctions on the institution, making it all but impossible for the organization to function. Given the threat the ICC now poses to the United States, that move would be wholly defensible and warmly welcomed by the majority of the houses of Congress. ICC employees may want to find new work sooner rather than later because the bank that processes their paychecks could soon be in the crosshairs.” — Richard Goldberg, Senior Advisor

“Hamas’s approval of the ICC warrants comes as no surprise. In fact, this is all part of the terrorist group’s strategy of increasing civilian suffering on both sides to provoke international condemnation of Israel. Israel has gone to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties, including by sending warnings to evacuate fighting zones, and has facilitated the transfer of humanitarian aid while under fire from Hamas. Meanwhile, the Iran-backed terrorist group burned, raped, and murdered its way through southern Israel and vows to do so again. Putting them in the same boat shows how disconnected the court has become from reality. And those countries welcoming the ICC decision should be ashamed to be in the same boat as Hamas in cheering on this kangaroo court.” — David May, Research Manager and Senior Research Analyst
The ICC Is Self-Defeating and Perverse
Yesterday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, ex-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Mohammad Deif for “alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes” committed in Gaza. Deif, Hamas’s former military chief, was killed by an Israeli airstrike in July. The Netherlands, Canada, and a few other countries have already stated that they will arrest Netanyahu or Gallant if either sets foot on their territory.

The case against Israel is so absurd, the court’s assertion of jurisdiction over this conflict so feeble, and the behavior of the ICC so un-lawlike, that the warrants say more about the institution’s flaws than the war in Gaza. In 2003, shortly after the ratification of the Rome Statute—which created the ICC, and which neither the U.S., nor Israel, nor Hamas signed—the legal scholar Jack Goldsmith diagnosed those flaws:
The ICC can exercise its independent jurisdiction over perpetrators of international crimes if the crimes are committed (a) by a national of a signatory party, or (b) on the territory of a signatory party! Two important consequences follow. The first is territorial liability over non-signatories. The ICC has jurisdiction over crimes committed by a non-signatory nation in the territory of a signatory nation. The second is the traveling-dictator exception. Leaders of non-signatory nations can commit crimes in their [own] territories without fear of prosecution. Even if human-rights abusers from non-signatory nations vacation in The Hague, they cannot be arrested and tried by the ICC.

The most salient class of human-rights violators during the past century has been oppressive leaders who abuse their own people within national borders.

Goldsmith, thinking of Israel’s use of targeted killings of terrorist leaders to combat the campaign of suicide bombings and massacres launched by Hamas and Fatah, had a prescient sense of how the court would be used:
I am not arguing that the ICC will have no effect whatsoever. Surely it will. As the Palestinian response to Israeli military attacks in July 2002 indicates, it will be a focal point for rhetorical assertions about criminality even in cases in which the ICC clearly lacks jurisdiction.

Moreover, since American military might had proved the only reliable tool for bringing war criminals to justice, Goldsmith concluded that the ICC was not just “self-defeating,” but ultimately “perverse,” since it “exposes the United States, a non-signatory nation, to liability for crimes committed in signatory nations or in non-signatory nations that temporarily invoke” the court’s jurisdiction. It thus punishes good behavior (like American humanitarian interventions that risk collateral civilian deaths), while doing nothing about actual evils (like Bashar al-Assad slaughtering hundreds of thousands of his own subjects). Read more at University of Chicago Law Review (PDF)


Natasha Hausdorff on the ICC arrest warrants.
Mike Graham interviews Natasha Hausdorff, UKLFI Charitable Trust Legal Director, about the ICC’s arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister and former Defence Minister on the Talk TV Breakfast Show.


UKLFI: Natasha Hausdorff discusses ICC's issue of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders on Times Radio
Natasha Hausdorff, UKLFI Charitable Trust Legal Director, discusses the issue of warrants for the arrest of Israeli leaders by the International Criminal Court on Times Radio (audio)


Andrew Gold: Lawyer DESTROYS Myths About Israel - Natasha Hausdorff
Barrister Natasha Hausdorff teamed up with and debated alongside Douglas Murray against Mehdi Hassan at the Monk Debate to prevent the spread of disinformation around Israel, Gaza and Hamas. Today, she dispels 5 huge myths around Zionism, anti-Semitism, Jews, genocide, apartheid and war crimes.

Chapters:
0:00 Natasha Hausdorff Highlights
1:30 1. IS ISRAEL COMMITTING GENOCIDE?
4:30 October 7th Had Genocidal Intent
7:30 Compliant with International Law
8:40 2. IS ISRAEL KILLING CIVILIANS?
10:00 Hamas Shooting Its Own People
12:30 Israel’s Remarkable Achievement
15:30 The Lies of the NY Times & ‘Organs’
16:40 The Blood Libel Lie
18:00 3. IS ISRAEL AN APARTHEID STATE?
19:50 7th October Made Arabs Feel Israeli
20:50 Where Apartheid Allegations Come From
21:50 Lies of Amnesty International & Human Rights Watch
24:00 The Dark Reason the Courts Rule Against Israel
27:00 Political Islamism & Wokeness
29:45 The Worrying Numbers Game
31:00 Islamic Colonisers & Reasonable People Believing Truth
32:10 4. IS ISRAEL COMMITTING WAR CRIMES?
34:00 Hamas is Committing War Crimes
36:00 Israel’s War Crimes?
40:00 5. IS ANTI-ZIONISM ANTI-SEMITIC?
42:00 Douglas Murray & the Monk Debate
44:30 What Zionism Means
47:00 India Pakistan Comparison
49:00 5. ARE JEWISH SETTLEMENTS THE PROBLEM?
52:00 Creation of the Palestinian Authority
55:00 What Do We Do About Disinformation & Anti-Semitism?
58:00 This Is NOT Normal
1:00:30 Optimism
1:02:00 A Heretic Natasha Admires




The ICC Arrest Warrants Part 1 – with Eugene Kontorovich
In an unprecedented move, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. This is the first time the ICC has targeted leaders of a liberal Western democracy—a decision that has far-reaching implications for Israel, global justice, and democracies worldwide.

In this episode of Boundless Insights, host Aviva Klompas speaks with Eugene Kontorovich, a leading authority on international law, to unpack the ICC’s motivations and explore the consequences of this decision.

Key Topics:
-The practical and political implications of these arrest warrants.
-How this decision sets a dangerous precedent for democracies fighting terrorism.
-What this means for global justice and the ICC’s credibility moving forward.

Guest Bio:
Eugene Kontorovich is the head of the International Law Department at the Kohelet Policy Forum, a Jerusalem-based think tank, and a professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law and the director of its Center for International Law in the Middle East. He is an expert in international and constitutional law, with over thirty academic articles published in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed journals.
Guy Benson Show: Eli Lake on the ICC Arrest Warrants for Israel Government Officials - "This Is Absurd and a Travesty"
Eli Lake, reporter at The Free Press, host of the Re-Education with Eli Lake podcast, and contributing editor at Commentary, joined The Guy Benson Show today to address critical issues surrounding Israel and ongoing antisemitism. Lake and Benson discussed the ICC's "absurd" arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Benson and Lake discussed the U.S. response with potential sanctions headed towards the ICC, and the resounding failure of Bernie Sanders' Senate proposal to cut aid to Israel. Lake also touched on the disturbing antisemitic mob in residential Brooklyn, and you can listen to the full interview below!


ICC ISSUES ARREST WARRANTS: A LEGAL SCHOLAR RESPONDS, FEATURING PROF. AVI BELL
Recorded on Thursday, November 21, 2024, in the wake of the announcement by the International Criminal Court that arrest warrants have been issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, I sought out the insights and expertise of renowned legal scholar Professor Avi Bell, in order to gain his insights into this dreadful development, and to bring his conclusion to you by way of this conversation.

Professor Avi Bell is a member of the Faculty of Law at Bar Ilan University and the University of San Diego School of Law.

His fields of academic research include property and intellectual property law, international law, the laws of war, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Professor Bell is considered one of the leading researchers in Israel in the field of economic analysis of law, and he is a member of the Israeli Law & Economics Association as well as the American Law & Economics Association.

His papers have been published in leading law journals including Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review and Columbia Law Review.

Bell received his BA and JD from the University of Chicago and his doctorate from Harvard University.

He was director of the Global Law Forum at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs from 2008-2009.


FDD Morning Brief | feat. Orde Kittrie (Nov. 22)



Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong’s ceasefire call means Hamas victory, says global military strategist
One of the world’s leading military strategists says the call by Western governments including Australia for a ceasefire in Gaza now is handing Hamas victory.

Overnight the international condemnation of Israel ratcheted up another notch as the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, alleging they used starvation as a tool of warfare.

The warrants are only enforceable if the pair travel to a country where the government is willing to arrest them and hand them over to the ICC.

US President Joe Biden said the warrants were “outrageous” and the White House said they would not be enforced on American soil.

Mike Waltz, who is expected to serve as the next National Security Adviser warned the ICC to expect a “strong response to the anti-Semitic bias” after Donald Trump is inaugurated as President in January.

By contrast, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia respected the independence of the ICC in a major split with the outgoing and incoming Administrations and her statement, posted on X, made no mention of Hamas freeing the hostages they captured on October 7, 2023 which prompted Israel’s retaliation in Gaza.

John Spencer from the Modern War Institute is one of the world’s leading specialists on urban warfare.

Speaking to the Latika Takes podcast as part of his visit to Australia this week, he said that calls for a ceasefire now would solidify Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation, grip on power in Gaza for the next decades.

“If you ceasefire now, Hamas, by my definition as a strategist has achieved victory,” he said.

“They will have achieved victory in attacking Israel and surviving as an organisation with power.

“Not an ideology, it’s a different concept, it will have survived as a ruling power in Gaza and the world would have forced Israel to be okay with leaving them in power.

“Yes they all have much less power than they ever have had in the last 20 years but it still has power.”

He said the change from Joe Biden to Donald Trump would rewrite the current situation in the Middle East because Mr Trump has stated his determination to go after Iran, which funds Hamas.

“That is probably the biggest change that will change everything,” he said.

“I want to see the Palestinian people’s lives improve.

He said leaving Hamas in charge would continue their subjugation.


Hamas, PA praise ICC warrants as ‘important step toward justice,’ a counter to ‘genocide’
Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and Turkey on Thursday welcomed the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Hamas politburo member Basem Naim said the decision is “an important step toward justice and can lead to redress for the victims in general, but it remains limited and symbolic if it is not supported by all means by all countries around the world.”

Naim did not comment on the separate arrest warrant, also issued by the ICC on Thursday, for Hamas’s slain military chief Muhammad Deif. Israel in August confirmed the elusive Deif had been killed in an airstrike on Khan Younis. Hamas has not confirmed he was killed, and the ICC said it could not do so either.

Commenting on the ICC warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, Hamas called on the court to expand the scope of the warrants and seek the arrest of all Israeli leaders, government ministers and army officers who were involved in the war. The terror group also urged countries across the world to cooperate with the tribunal in bringing Netanyahu and Gallant to justice.

Hamas also accused the White House of “attempting to obstruct the proceedings for months by intimidating the court and its judges.” US lawmakers had repeatedly warned they could seek to sanction court officials if the warrants were issued, though the White House made no such threats.

Turkey, which is said to be hosting leaders of the terror group after they were kicked out of Qatar, also hailed the “very important step” taken by the ICC.
Iran Guards chief: ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu is ‘political death’ of Israel
The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards describes the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yova Gallant as the “end and political death” of Israel.

“This means the end and political death of the Zionist regime, a regime that today lives in absolute political isolation in the world and its officials can no longer travel to other countries,” Revolutionary Guards chief General Hossein Salami says in the speech aired on state TV.

In the first official reaction by Iran, Salami calls the ICC warrant “a welcome move” and a “great victory for the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements,” in reference to terror organizations supported by Tehran.


‘Dangerous’: ICC issues arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu
Sky News host Erin Molan has slammed the “dangerous” ICC arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Judges have ruled there are reasonable grounds to believe Mr Netanyahu and his former defence chief carry criminal responsibility for using starvation as a method of warfare.

The ICC has also issued a warrant against Hamas leader Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes on October 7.


‘Enabling evil and rewarding terror’: ICC slammed over arrest warrant for Israel’s PM
Sky News host Erin Molan has slammed the International Criminal Court after it issued an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Judges have ruled there are reasonable grounds to believe Mr Netanyahu and his former defence chief carry criminal responsibility for using starvation as a method of warfare.

The ICC has also issued a warrant against Hamas leader Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes on October 7.

“You’ve usurped the United Nations when it comes to enabling evil and rewarding terror, managing to actually be even worse and that’s well pretty incredible,” Ms Molan said.


‘Terrifying’: Woollahra community targeted in an anti-Israel attack
Sky News host Erin Molan has reacted to an anti-Israel incident which occurred in Woollahra, one of Australia’s most densely Jewish populated suburbs.

Residents in Woollahra were targeted on Thursday after almost a dozen cars and homes were defaced with anti-Israe slurs, and one vehicle was torched and completely destroyed.

“Those still denying antisemitism is rearing its ugly head not just elsewhere in the world, but in our own backyard, are kidding themselves,” Ms Molan said.


Anti-Israel movement ‘more brazen’ amid Sydney vandalism
Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-CEO Alex Ryvchin discusses the “gradual escalation” in the targeting and severity of attacks against the Jewish community.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has described anti-Israel vandalism in eastern Sydney as "deeply troubling".

Dozens of cars have been vandalised and one set alight in an overnight attack in Sydney’s east.

“We’ve seen the anti-Israel movement become more brazen, more open, more fanatical, more prone to violence and it’s not merely the Jewish community that suffers for it, it’s all Australians,” Mr Ryvchin told Sky News Australia.






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2019 Nobel Peace Prize nominee

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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