The Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Mr. Karim A.A Khan, on Monday, May 20th 2024, sought a warrant of arrest from the International criminal court against the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defense leader as well as three leaders of the Hamas for alleged acts of genocide and crimes against humanity carried out by the Hamas in Israel where 1200 innocent Israelis were murdered and another 250 carried away as hostages.
The Israeli’s officers also, Karim believed, also bore war crimes that make them culpable for genocide and crime against humanity in the war they carried out against the Palestinians, where more than 37 thousand Palestinians were killed and with hunger being used as the instrument of war in Gaza.
So many reactions have trailed the Chief Prosecutor’s claim especially from the allies of Israel, prominent among them is the United States of America.
President Biden, speaking at a celebration of the Jewish Heritage Month in the Rose Garden at the White House, condemned the decision made by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to seek arrest warrants for top Israeli officials for crimes against humanity, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when he requested warrants for three Hamas leaders on the same accusation on Monday.
In addition, President Biden maintains; “Let me be clear, we reject the I.C.C.’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders. Whatever these warrants may imply, there’s no equivalence between Israel and Hamas.”
Germany’s position is that of respect for the independence and procedure of the I.C.C but expects the prosecutor to substantiate his claim because the allegation is serious.
However, Britain’s position on the matter is not different from that of the United States of America based on the reaction of Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister of Britain. “This is a deeply unhelpful development. Of course it is still subject to a final decision, but it remains deeply unhelpful nonetheless.”
“There is no moral equivalence between a democratic state exercising its lawful right to self defense and the terrorist group Hamas. It is wrong to conflate and equivocate between those two different entities.”
“What I am very clear is that this will make absolutely no difference in getting a pause in the fighting, getting aid into the region, or indeed the hostages out.”
Interestingly, France has chosen to follow a different route as its reaction through its Foreign Minister, Stéphane Séjourné suggests. “France supports the International Criminal Court, its independence and the fight against impunity in all situations,” the foreign minister said in a statement late on Monday. “As far as Israel is concerned, it will be up to the court’s pre-trial chamber to decide whether to issue these warrants, after examining the evidence put forward by the prosecutor,” the minister said.
In another twist, the Israeli’s ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman while asserting the sovereignty of Israel being in democracy with democratically elected leaders, as well as the independence of its judiciary on Arise TV Prime Time, indicates that the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu is currently being tried for corruption charges.
With all the revelations regarding the positions taken by America, France, Britain, and Germany, it becomes evident that they are all not on the same page on the issue of the warrant of arrest being sought by the Chief Prosecutor of the I.C.C
In the case of President Joe Biden who says there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas, his belief and conclusions seem to lack the required profundity, forgetting that the premise on which every rational and equitable judgements should be on especially in matters of genocide and crimes to humanity is humanity.
To this end, the equivalence between the Israelis and Palestinians is humanity. Israel that claims to have the legality and right to defend itself being a sovereign state has forgotten that it failed to do so when required as can be seen in how the Hamas were able to make it to the extent of committing the condemnable havoc carried out against innocent Israelis on October 7 2023.
Under normal circumstances, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his top military officers should have resigned for failure to defend the people of Israel who were killed and taken hostages by Hamas.
What Benjamin Netanyahu has done by declaring war on Hamas and by extension, the Palestinians, was nothing other than making offence their defence and with no moral equivalence between the number of Israelis that Hamas murdered and that of the Palestinians which is now at over 37 thousand aside from thousands of those who were injured.
President Biden, it is however not surprising why he has been speaking from the two sides of his mouth, it is politics over humanity and placing the winning of an election above loving others as oneself. No matter what position any country takes, the truth still remains that the same blood that flows in one flows in all and God is the judge of all.
Recall that South Africa has accused Israel of genocide and had taken the matter to the I.C.C and Egypt was said to have joined itself to South Africa. The case of Israel and the intransigence of its leaders that are being blindly supported by its allies, is not different from the case of someone who swallows a mortar, to whom the possibility of standing or sitting down becomes a problem.
It is a fact also that he who conquers his foe by force has only succeeded in conquering him by half. Wiping out Hamas completely as Israel wishes is like chasing a shadow, for Hamas goes beyond the soldiers or humans, it is an ideology. Israel needs to consider what happens after the ongoing war against Hamas.
If the Israeli ambassador to Nigeria can freely say on an international TV that the Prime Minister of his country is being tried for corruption matters, where then is the claim of the Prime Minister as being equitable and just coming from?
Good developments that have taken place since the war began in respect of the Palestinians is that Palestine has been re-absolved to the membership of the United Nations and there is a strong move going on that is likely to culminate in Palestine becoming a sovereign state bringing into reality the elusive two-states solution.
Norway, Spain, and Ireland have re-echoed their commitment to recognize the Palestine state.
Around 144 out of 193 member-states of the United Nations recognise Palestine as a state, including most of the global south, Russia, China and India. But only a handful of the 27 EU members have done so, mostly former Communist countries as well as Sweden and Cyprus.
On a final note, let all those who have ears hear that the days of Exodus when the Israelites walked through the Red Sea on dry ground and Pharaoh and his army drowned, are over because Christ died not only for the Israelites but for the entire world, including the Palestinians.
To this end, Israel as a nation without Christ is not different from Jacob the swindler without a change of name.
Israel can make war but a lasting and enduring peace comes only through Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.
It is time for a cease fire, and a two-states solution is indispensable if peace is the choice.
Our condolences to the people of Iran for the loss of their President, Ebraham Raisi.
By
Samuel ‘Tunji Adeyanju
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