#Karim Khan

[odinsblog]

“I can also confirm today that I have reasonable grounds to believe, on the basis of evidence collected and examined by my office, that Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Minister of Defense, Yoav Galant, bear criminal responsibility for the following international crimes committed on the territory of the State of Palestine from at least the 8 October 2023.

The crimes include starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, willfully causing great suffering, serious injury to body or health or cruel treatment, willful killing or murder, and intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, as well as crimes against humanity of extermination and or murder, persecution and allegations of crimes of committing other inhumane acts. It's alleged that these crimes were committed in the context of the ongoing armed conflict and as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza pursuant to a state policy.

Unfortunately, these crimes continue to this day.

My office submits that these individuals, through a common plan, have systematically deprived the civilian population of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival.

We have reached that conclusion based upon interviews with survivors, many eyewitnesses, experts from satellite imagery, statements from Israeli officials, including the two individuals subject to the present application.”

—Karim Khan, ICC Chief Prosecutor

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Harry Davies, Bethan McKernan, Yuval Abraham, and Meron Rapoport at The Guardian:

When the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC) announced he was seeking arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders, he issued a cryptic warning: “I insist that all attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence the officials of this court must cease immediately.” Karim Khan did not provide specific details of attempts to interfere in the ICC’s work, but he noted a clause in the court’s foundational treaty that made any such interference a criminal offence. If the conduct continued, he added, “my office will not hesitate to act”. The prosecutor did not say who had attempted to intervene in the administration of justice, or how exactly they had done so. Now, an investigation by the Guardian and the Israeli-based magazines +972 and Local Call can reveal how Israel has run an almost decade-long secret “war” against the court. The country deployed its intelligence agencies to surveil, hack, pressure, smear and allegedly threaten senior ICC staff in an effort to derail the court’s inquiries.

Israeli intelligence captured the communications of numerous ICC officials, including Khan and his predecessor as prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, intercepting phone calls, messages, emails and documents. The surveillance was ongoing in recent months, providing Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, with advance knowledge of the prosecutor’s intentions. A recent intercepted communication suggested that Khan wanted to issue arrest warrants against Israelis but was under “tremendous pressure from the United States”, according to a source familiar with its contents. Bensouda, who as chief prosecutor opened the ICC’s investigation in 2021, paving the way for last week’s announcement, was also spied on and allegedly threatened. Netanyahu has taken a close interest in the intelligence operations against the ICC, and was described by one intelligence source as being “obsessed” with intercepts about the case. Overseen by his national security advisers, the efforts involved the domestic spy agency, the Shin Bet, as well as the military’s intelligence directorate, Aman, and cyber-intelligence division, Unit 8200. Intelligence gleaned from intercepts was, sources said, disseminated to government ministries of justice, foreign affairs and strategic affairs.

A covert operation against Bensouda, revealed on Tuesday by the Guardian, was run personally by Netanyahu’s close ally Yossi Cohen, who was at the time the director of Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad. At one stage, the spy chief even enlisted the help of the then president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Joseph Kabila. Details of Israel’s nine-year campaign to thwart the ICC’s inquiry have been uncovered by the Guardian, an Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Local Call, a Hebrew-language outlet. The joint investigation draws on interviews with more than two dozen current and former Israeli intelligence officers and government officials, senior ICC figures, diplomats and lawyers familiar with the ICC case and Israel’s efforts to undermine it. Contacted by the Guardian, a spokesperson for the ICC said it was aware of “proactive intelligence-gathering activities being undertaken by a number of national agencies hostile towards the court”. They said the ICC was continually implementing countermeasures against such activity, and that “none of the recent attacks against it by national intelligence agencies” had penetrated the court’s core evidence holdings, which had remained secure.

A spokesperson for Israel’s prime minister’s office said: “The questions forwarded to us are replete with many false and unfounded allegations meant to hurt the state of Israel.” A military spokesperson added: “The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] did not and does not conduct surveillance or other intelligence operations against the ICC.” Since it was established in 2002, the ICC has served as a permanent court of last resort for the prosecution of individuals accused of some of the world’s worst atrocities. It has charged the former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, the late Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi and most recently, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Khan’s decision to seek warrants against Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, along with Hamas leaders implicated in the 7 October attack, marks the first time an ICC prosecutor has sought arrest warrants against the leader of a close western ally.

[...] That “war” commenced in January 2015, when it was confirmed that Palestine would join the court after it was recognised as a state by the UN general assembly. Its accession was condemned by Israeli officials as a form of “diplomatic terrorism”. One former defence official familiar with Israel’s counter-ICC effort said joining the court had been “perceived as the crossing of a red line” and “perhaps the most aggressive” diplomatic move taken by the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank. “To be recognised as a state in the UN is nice,” they added. “But the ICC is a mechanism with teeth.” [...] Israel, like the US, Russia and China, is not a member. After Palestine’s acceptance as an ICC member, any alleged war crimes – committed by those of any nationality – in occupied Palestinian territories now fell under Bensouda’s jurisdiction.

The Guardian's report on how Israel led a 9-year intimidation war campaign against the ICC is a must-read.

[vyorei]

[sophia-zofia]

Israel has not ratified the Rome Statute, and is not a State Party (i.e. member state) of the ICC, the global tribunal established in 2002 to hold accountable perpetrators of war crimes, crimes of aggression, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

Of specific concern to Israel was that the Rome Statute, in Article 8.2.(b).(viii), defines as a “war crime” the “transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies,

or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the occupied territory within or outside this territory”. This closely reflects Article 49 of the IV Geneva Convention of 1949 Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War,

which defines such activities as a “grave breach”, the Convention’s equivalent of a war crime. Other articles, such as 7.1.(j) which defines “apartheid” as “a crime against humanity”, became a serious concern more recently,

as the longstanding judgement of Palestinians on this matter was endorsed by the leading Israeli and international human rights organizations.

The ICC is only empowered to prosecute individuals, not states. (The conduct of states is adjudicated by the International Court of Justice, the ICJ, a separate institution also located in The Hague).

The Office of the ICC Prosecutor can conduct investigations into alleged violations of the Rome Statute only if either 1) a case is referred to the ICC Prosecutor by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), 2) requested by at least one ICC member state,

or 3) initiated by the Prosecutor, provided it is authorized to move forward by a panel of ICC judges known as the “pre-trial chamber”.

Given that the US, which like Israel refused to join the ICC, has veto powers at the Security Council, and that Palestine was not an ICC member, Israel was not particularly concerned that the ICC Prosecutor would independently seek to initiate an investigation of its conduct.

So it sufficed with periodic tirades dismissing, demonizing, and delegitimizing the Court. That began to change in 2015 when Palestine, which has the status of Permanent Observer State at the UN, was admitted to the ICC and permitted to formally ratify the Rome Statute.

The Palestinian leadership had for many years stalled on this and other initiatives promoting the application of international law to the Palestinians. This was, parenthetically, not out of fear of potential ICC prosecutions of Palestinians.

Hamas, whose members are the most likely to be prosecuted if the ICC investigates Palestinian violations, in fact called for Palestine’s accession to the ICC, in both word and writing.

In writing, because Hamas propaganda had been denouncing Abbas for promoting Palestine’s ICC application at a snail’s pace out of fear of the Israeli and Western response.

Abbas responded by insisting that Hamas and Islamic Jihad sign a document supporting the application before it was submitted, so he could not later be accused by them of joining the Court in order to have his rivals extradited to The Hague.

When the deed was done, Palestinians from across the political spectrum welcomed it, and stated they were prepared to see all alleged violations of the Rome Statute committed in Palestine investigated by the ICC.

Hamas’s criticisms of Abbas may have been propaganda, but they were also correct. Israel and its US and European sponsors had from the outset made clear their opposition to Palestine seeking to join the ICC, and demanded that it desist.

The Europeans, who unlike the US and Israel have joined the ICC, were in a particular pickle. As a European diplomat stated to me at the time:

“We don’t want the Palestinians to put is in a position where we have to choose between our commitment to international law and our commitment to Israel”. In other words, they didn’t want to expose the rotten core of their rules-based international order,

where the rules only apply to everyone else. When they failed to prevent Palestinian accession, Israel in particular went berserk. It began withholding Palestinian taxes it was legally obliged to transfer to the Palestinian Authority,

imposed a variety of restrictions on Palestinian officials, and threatened to punish the PA in multiple additional ways. The US also made its displeasure clear, but directed the brunt of its retaliatory measures directly at the ICC.

Washington at one imposed sanctions on Khan’s predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, normally reserved for designated criminals. It was Washington’s way of informing the ICC it had no right to investigate either Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians or US conduct in Afghanistan.

In 2002 the US had already adopted legislation known as The Hague Invasion Act, which authorizes the US military to invade The Netherlands, a fellow NATO member, and free any US citizen in ICC custody.

Not clear how Nato’s collective defense provisions enshrined in Article 5 would operate under such circumstances….

The Europeans, duplicitous as ever, kept confirming their support for the ICC while submitting vacuous legal arguments to the Court insisting it had no jurisdiction over Palestine.

In doing so they came within a hair of endorsing Israel’s position that the ICC is an illegitimate body. The Dutch government for its part indicated it could not take a position on the matter because as the state that hosts the ICC,

it was obliged to preserve its neutrality in such matters. Yet several years later it demonstratively awarded the ICC several million Euro to support its investigation of Russian conduct in Ukraine, an initiative it repeatedly and publicly endorsed.

In the event, the Palestinians in 2015 submitted an application to the Office of the ICC Prosecutor to investigate violations of the Rome Statute in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967, beginning in 2014.

The Court wasted years adjudicating matters of jurisdiction and competence, before finally confirming, in 2021, that it had a mandate to conduct an investigation.

Which brings us back to the scandal known as Karim Khan. In previous functions, for example investigating the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia and that by ISIS in Iraq, he developed a reputation as an attention whore of sorts.

Didn’t achieve much by way of results, but always found his way to the television cameras. A British citizen, his candidacy as ICC Prosecutor was energetically supported by the UK government. His candidacy was also championed by the US and Israel,

two non-member states opposed to the very existence of the Court. In 2021, Khan narrowly won election to a nine-year term. Unless he’s forced out, we’re stuck with him until 2030.

Some held the forlorn hope that Khan would prioritize efforts to revive the ICC’s stature and reputation, which by the time he took office was being widely derided as the “International Caucasian Court” and “International Criminal Court for Africa”,

on account of the cases it chose – and chose not to – prosecute. In protest at such biases, South Africa at one point temporarily renounced its ICC membership.

In practice, Khan wasted no time aligning his agenda with that of his sponsors. Almost immediately, he informed the UN Security Council that he would prioritize only those cases referred to him by the Council and essentially ignore the rest.

The ICC Palestine investigation, such as it was, effectively ceased to exist.

Yet when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, which the UNSC could not have referred to the ICC for investigation because of Moscow’s power of veto, Khan immediately reversed course on his previous commitments.

It took him only a week to pop up in Kiev, informing any and every journalist within a 100-mile radius that his investigation was already active. A little over a year later he indicted none other than Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Throughout this period, the ICC’s Palestine investigation remained non-existent.

There was considerably less spring in his step as the latest crisis in the Middle East erupted on 7 October. It was only at the very end of October that he took the trouble to visit the region.

Claiming he had been denied entry to the Gaza Strip, he spoke to the assembled media in Cairo, where he delivered a lengthy and impassioned denunciation of the 7 October Palestinian attacks,

announced his availability to work with the Israeli authorities to prosecute those responsible for violations of the Rome Statute on that day, yet pointedly refrained from any reference to Israeli war crimes,

which his predecessor Bensouda had already in 2019 announced were being committed. Rather, his message to Israel was of a more general nature: that it had clear obligations under international law and would be held accountable for (unspecified) violations.

Khan further, and disingenuously, claimed that in 2021 he established the “first dedicated team to investigate the Palestine situation”.

Even though this team has in contrast to that sent to investigate Russian conduct in Ukraine never been referenced or heard from, Khan on 3 December stated he would “further intensify” its efforts.

But this was nothing compared to his next visit, undertaken in early December to Israel in coordination with the Israeli government which, it needs to be emphasized once again, has rejected the legitimacy of the ICC,

launched extensive campaigns of vilification to delegitimize it, and has consistently obstructed its efforts to investigate Israeli conduct vis-à-vis the Palestinians.

Initially described as an “unofficial” visit (perhaps he entered the country wearing a disguise designed for Inspector Clouseau by Auguste Balls),

he accepted Israel’s rejection of a visit to the Gaza Strip as a condition for meeting with Israeli families who lost loved ones on 7 October. In an effort to conceal and whitewash this dirty deal,

he at the end of his visit took a short trip to Ramallah to meet with PA President Abbas. Seeing through his agenda, Palestinian human rights organizations unanimously refused to meet with him, and denounced his visit.

The most problematic aspect of Khan’s visit was his concluding statement. While claiming his trip was “not investigatory in nature”, he nevertheless allowed himself to establish, as a matter of settled fact,

that the attacks of 7 October “represent some of the most serious international crimes that shock the conscience of humanity”, for good measure denouncing Hamas as a “terror organization”.

If Khan had denounced Israel and its crimes against the Palestinians with similar polemics and conviction, this would have multiplied rather than limited the damage inflicted by Khan.

This is for the simple reason that the ICC investigation, if it indeed exists, is still in its initial stages, yet the prosecutor has already announced its conclusions.

In the event Khan had a very different take on Israel’s conduct. Addressing the slaughter of thousands of children and razing of entire neighborhoods to the ground,

he went no further than to assert that “credible allegations of crimes” that may – or may not – have been committed, should be “the subject of timely, independent, examination and investigation”.

With respect to Israel shutting off the food, water, medicine, and fuel supply to the Gaza Strip, an assessment of which requires no more than a diploma in basket weaving, he would not go beyond insisting that the supply had to be guaranteed,

and “must not be diverted or misused by Hamas.” Gleefully skipping over the patently genocidal statements of Israeli leaders that might have helped him connect the dots he, much like Western politicians, took the easy way out

and instead denounced the violence of Israel’s settlers, as if these form an independent vigilante force rather than auxiliary militia implementing state policy.

The reason Khan tread so lightly also reflects what appears to be the most disturbing element of his agenda.

Pursuant to the Rome Statute the ICC only prosecutes cases where national authorities have demonstrably failed to ensure accountability. In this context, every examination of Israel’s judicial system with respect to violations of Palestinian rights,

has concluded that it is essentially a sham, and exists to provide legal justification for such violations and/or exonerate perpetrators.

Yet Khan emphasized that he stands “ready to engage with relevant national authorities [i.e. Israel] in line with the principle of complementarity at the heart of the Rome Statute”.

In other words, Khan will prosecute Palestinians, and Israeli violations will be adjudicated by Israel’s court system. Both with predictable results.

In order to keep this short, I conclude with posting an article @hasmikegian and I recently wrote for @PassBlue on why Karim Khan is not fit for purpose. I am also indebted to her for multiple insights and substantial input into this thread.

https://www.passblue.com/2023/11/28/is-the-icc-prosecutor-karim-khan-fit-for-purpose/

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Seth Mandel

But it’s also the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in microcosm. Compare Khan’s description of the role played by NGOs and sympathetic media with how Matti Friedman, a former Associated Press reporter who wrote about the media’s problems covering Israel after the 2014 Gaza war, describes the effects of this same alliance on coverage: “these groups are to be quoted, not covered. Journalists cross from places like the BBC to organizations like Oxfam and back. The current spokesman at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, for example, is a former BBC man. A Palestinian woman who participated in protests against Israel and tweeted furiously about Israel a few years ago served at the same time as a spokesperson for a UN office, and was close friends with a few reporters I know. And so forth.”

In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, these NGOs are extremely powerful, because their perceived authority magnifies their voices above those who may know much more about the issues but who don’t have the megaphone or the credibility lent to the European-funded activist groups masquerading as “humanitarians.” Throughout the current war, polls of American public opinion have never demonstrated that the progressive pro-Hamas rump on college campuses or among city protest groups should be catered to. In Israel vs Hamas, Americans don’t hesitate to side with Israel. Even the “ceasefire at any cost” crowd is smaller than it looks and sounds. A Marist poll last week put their share of the public at 25 percent. Yet they have nudged President Biden’s policies in their direction.

How? The protests on college campuses showed not just the organizing power of the left but the role of the media in amplifying their grievances and whitewashing their violence and lawbreaking. And it works in the other direction too: In many cases the media plays a key role in feeding the wildfire of misinformation that fuels the protests before turning around and reporting on them.

UN groups have been uncritically parroting the obviously inaccurate Hamas-produced death tolls. So have the media. In explaining why the Washington Post trusts Hamas propaganda enough to report it as fact, the paper quoted Omar Shakir in Hamas’s defense. Shakir is the Israel/Palestine director of Human Rights Watch and someone who was expelled from Israel over his support for BDS-affiliated groups that seek Israel’s destruction. In other words, if you switched the staffing of the Hamas Health Ministry and Human Rights Watch, the output of both organizations would likely be unchanged.

[joemerl]

The International Criminal Court be like:

On an unrelated note, let us have a moment of silence in honor of the Butcher of Tehran.

[omgellendean]

In short, don't put your hopes on ICC and especially don't trust Karim Khan.

[pasparal]

Israel-Gaza War: Norman Finkelstein Debates The "Genocide" In Palestine | The Full Interview

Al Arabiya English

Jun 5, 2024

“Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza” American political scientist Norman Finkelstein told Al Arabiya English's Riz Khan.

Speaking in an exclusive interview, Finkelstein said the population of Gaza “sealed off from the world” is facing a “death sentence” following the long-time denial of aid – primarily food, water, fuel and medical supply.

Finkelstein is an American academic whose forthright analysis of the Israel-Gaza conflict has provoked strong opinions over many years. He's no less outspoken in this exclusive interview, in which he delivers his own hard talking judgment on the international courts, the ICJ and the ICC.

[hussyknee]

Today in Things This Shitshow Has Unearthed About Isn'treal And Its Kangaroo Court Alliance. (Please stand away from any surfaces you would feel compelled to bring your head into violent contact with).

Transcribed Twitter thread from Mouin Rabbani.

To understand why International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan’s conduct regarding “The Situation in Palestine” is so scandalous and should disqualify him from office, a little background is necessary.

Israel has not ratified the Rome Statute, and is not a State Party (i.e. member state) of the ICC (International Criminal Court), the global tribunal established in 2002 to hold accountable perpetrators of war crimes, crimes of aggression, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Of specific concern to Israel was that the Rome Statute, in Article 8.2.(b).(viii), defines as a “war crime” the ��transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the occupied territory within or outside this territory”. This closely reflects Article 49 of the IV Geneva Convention of 1949 Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, which defines such activities as a “grave breach”, the Convention’s equivalent of a war crime. Other articles, such as 7.1.(j) which defines “apartheid” as “a crime against humanity”, became a serious concern more recently, as the longstanding judgement of Palestinians on this matter was endorsed by the leading Israeli and international human rights organizations.

The ICC is only empowered to prosecute individuals, not states. (The conduct of states is adjudicated by the International Court of Justice, the ICJ, a separate institution also located in The Hague). The Office of the ICC Prosecutor can conduct investigations into alleged violations of the Rome Statute only if either 1) a case is referred to the ICC Prosecutor by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), 2) requested by at least one ICC member state, or 3) initiated by the Prosecutor, provided it is authorized to move forward by a panel of ICC judges known as the “pre-trial chamber”.

Given that the US, which like Israel refused to join the ICC, has veto powers at the Security Council, and that Palestine was not an ICC member, Israel was not particularly concerned that the ICC Prosecutor would independently seek to initiate an investigation of its conduct.

So it sufficed with periodic tirades dismissing, demonizing, and delegitimizing the Court. That began to change in 2015 when Palestine, which has the status of Permanent Observer State at the UN, was admitted to the ICC and permitted to formally ratify the Rome Statute. The Palestinian leadership had for many years stalled on this and other initiatives promoting the application of international law to the Palestinians. This was, parenthetically, not out of fear of potential ICC prosecutions of Palestinians. Hamas, whose members are the most likely to be prosecuted if the ICC investigates Palestinian violations, in fact called for Palestine’s accession to the ICC, in both word and writing. In writing, because Hamas propaganda had been denouncing Abbas for promoting Palestine’s ICC application at a snail’s pace out of fear of the Israeli and Western response. Abbas responded by insisting that Hamas and Islamic Jihad sign a document supporting the application before it was submitted, so he could not later be accused by them of joining the Court in order to have his rivals extradited to The Hague.

When the deed was done, Palestinians from across the political spectrum welcomed it, and stated they were prepared to see all alleged violations of the Rome Statute committed in Palestine investigated by the ICC.

Hamas’s criticisms of Abbas may have been propaganda, but they were also correct. Israel and its US and European sponsors had from the outset made clear their opposition to Palestine seeking to join the ICC, and demanded that it desist. The Europeans, who unlike the US and Israel have joined the ICC, were in a particular pickle. As a European diplomat stated to me at the time: “We don’t want the Palestinians to put is in a position where we have to choose between our commitment to international law and our commitment to Israel”. In other words, they didn’t want to expose the rotten core of their rules-based international order, where the rules only apply to everyone else. When they failed to prevent Palestinian accession, Israel in particular went berserk. It began withholding Palestinian taxes it was legally obliged to transfer to the Palestinian Authority, imposed a variety of restrictions on Palestinian officials, and threatened to punish the PA in multiple additional ways. The US also made its displeasure clear, but directed the brunt of its retaliatory measures directly at the ICC. Washington at one imposed sanctions on Khan’s predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, normally reserved for designated criminals. It was Washington’s way of informing the ICC it had no right to investigate either Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians or US conduct in Afghanistan. In 2002 the US had already adopted legislation known as The Hague Invasion Act, which authorizes the US military to invade The Netherlands, a fellow NATO member, and free any US citizen in ICC custody.

(Not clear how NATO’s collective defense provisions enshrined in Article 5 would operate under such circumstances.)

The Europeans, duplicitous as ever, kept confirming their support for the ICC while submitting vacuous legal arguments to the Court insisting it had no jurisdiction over Palestine. In doing so they came within a hair of endorsing Israel’s position that the ICC is an illegitimate body. The Dutch government for its part indicated it could not take a position on the matter because as the state that hosts the ICC, it was obliged to preserve its neutrality in such matters. Yet several years later it demonstratively awarded the ICC several million Euro to support its investigation of Russian conduct in Ukraine, an initiative it repeatedly and publicly endorsed.

In the event, the Palestinians in 2015 submitted an application to the Office of the ICC Prosecutor to investigate violations of the Rome Statute in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967, beginning in 2014. The Court wasted years adjudicating matters of jurisdiction and competence, before finally confirming, in 2021, that it had a mandate to conduct an investigation.

Which brings us back to the scandal known as Karim Khan. In previous functions, for example investigating the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia and that by ISIS in Iraq, he developed a reputation as an attention whore of sorts. Didn’t achieve much by way of results, but always found his way to the television cameras. A British citizen, his candidacy as ICC Prosecutor was energetically supported by the UK government. His candidacy was also championed by the US and Israel, two non-member states opposed to the very existence of the Court. In 2021, Khan narrowly won election to a nine-year term. Unless he’s forced out, we’re stuck with him until 2030. Some held the forlorn hope that Khan would prioritize efforts to revive the ICC’s stature and reputation, which by the time he took office was being widely derided as the “International Caucasian Court” and “International Criminal Court for Africa”, on account of the cases it chose – and chose not to – prosecute. In protest at such biases, South Africa at one point temporarily renounced its ICC membership.

In practice, Khan wasted no time aligning his agenda with that of his sponsors. Almost immediately, he informed the UN Security Council that he would prioritize only those cases referred to him by the Council and essentially ignore the rest. The ICC Palestine investigation, such as it was, effectively ceased to exist. Yet when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, which the UNSC could not have referred to the ICC for investigation because of Moscow’s power of veto, Khan immediately reversed course on his previous commitments. It took him only a week to pop up in Kiev, informing any and every journalist within a 100-mile radius that his investigation was already active. A little over a year later he indicted none other than Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Throughout this period, the ICC’s Palestine investigation remained non-existent. There was considerably less spring in his step as the latest crisis in the Middle East erupted on 7 October. It was only at the very end of October that he took the trouble to visit the region. Claiming he had been denied entry to the Gaza Strip, he spoke to the assembled media in Cairo, where he delivered a lengthy and impassioned denunciation of the 7 October Palestinian attacks, announced his availability to work with the Israeli authorities to prosecute those responsible for violations of the Rome Statute on that day, yet pointedly refrained from any reference to Israeli war crimes, which his predecessor Bensouda had already in 2019 announced were being committed. Rather, his message to Israel was of a more general nature: that it had clear obligations under international law and would be held accountable for (unspecified) violations. Khan further, and disingenuously, claimed that in 2021 he established the “first dedicated team to investigate the Palestine situation”. Even though this team has in contrast to that sent to investigate Russian conduct in Ukraine never been referenced or heard from, Khan on 3 December stated he would “further intensify” its efforts.

But this was nothing compared to his next visit, undertaken in early December to Israel in coordination with the Israeli government which, it needs to be emphasized once again, has rejected the legitimacy of the ICC, launched extensive campaigns of vilification to delegitimize it, and has consistently obstructed its efforts to investigate Israeli conduct vis-à-vis the Palestinians. Initially described as an “unofficial” visit (perhaps he entered the country wearing a disguise designed for Inspector Clouseau by Auguste Balls), he accepted Israel’s rejection of a visit to the Gaza Strip as a condition for meeting with Israeli families who lost loved ones on 7 October. In an effort to conceal and whitewash this dirty deal, he at the end of his visit took a short trip to Ramallah to meet with PA President Abbas. Seeing through his agenda, Palestinian human rights organizations unanimously refused to meet with him, and denounced his visit.

The most problematic aspect of Khan’s visit was his concluding statement. While claiming his trip was “not investigatory in nature”, he nevertheless allowed himself to establish, as a matter of settled fact, that the attacks of 7 October “represent some of the most serious international crimes that shock the conscience of humanity”, for good measure denouncing Hamas as a “terror organization”. If Khan had denounced Israel and its crimes against the Palestinians with similar polemics and conviction, this would have multiplied rather than limited the damage inflicted by Khan. This is for the simple reason that the ICC investigation, if it indeed exists, is still in its initial stages, yet the prosecutor has already announced its conclusions.

In the event Khan had a very different take on Israel’s conduct. Addressing the slaughter of thousands of children and razing of entire neighborhoods to the ground, he went no further than to assert that “credible allegations of crimes” that may – or may not – have been committed, should be “the subject of timely, independent, examination and investigation”. With respect to Israel shutting off the food, water, medicine, and fuel supply to the Gaza Strip, an assessment of which requires no more than a diploma in basket weaving, he would not go beyond insisting that the supply had to be guaranteed, and “must not be diverted or misused by Hamas.” Gleefully skipping over the patently genocidal statements of Israeli leaders that might have helped him connect the dots he, much like Western politicians, took the easy way out and instead denounced the violence of Israel’s settlers, as if these form an independent vigilante force rather than auxiliary militia implementing state policy.

The reason Khan tread so lightly also reflects what appears to be the most disturbing element of his agenda. Pursuant to the Rome Statute the ICC only prosecutes cases where national authorities have demonstrably failed to ensure accountability. In this context, every examination of Israel’s judicial system with respect to violations of Palestinian rights, has concluded that it is essentially a sham, and exists to provide legal justification for such violations and/or exonerate perpetrators. Yet Khan emphasized that he stands “ready to engage with relevant national authorities [i.e. Israel] in line with the principle of complementarity at the heart of the Rome Statute”. In other words, Khan will prosecute Palestinians, and Israeli violations will be adjudicated by Israel’s court system. Both with predictable results.

In order to keep this short, I conclude with posting an article @hasmikegian and I recently wrote for @PassBlue on why Karim Khan is not fit for purpose. I am also indebted to her for multiple insights and substantial input into this thread.

https://www.passblue.com/2023/11/28/is-the-icc-prosecutor-karim-khan-fit-for-purpose/

My head has been in my hands almost constantly the last two months, but understand this: the fact that this stuff is finally FINALLY coming to the attention of the broader international public is a WIN. It's a win that's taken about twenty thousand people dead and still more dying to achieve, which means its all the more reason we are obligated to NOT give up on the rest of the victims of this horrible colonial world order, both in and beyond Palestine. The world failed Palestinians for seventy five years, and for seventy five years they could not stop hoping because giving in meant accepting annihilation. We have not earned the right to succumb to despair, and if we do, we too deserve no less.

(This post is not for pro-Russia/ pro-China Tankies to use the suffering of Palestinians to whitewash your own favourite genocidal imperialist. GTFO.)

[odinsblog]

Shimon Boker, vice chairman of The World Likud, the international arm of Netanyahu's party, literally saying, “We have to kill everyone in there, all the civilians.”

And now, read the threatening letter from 12 Republican senators threatening the ICC Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, with “severe” consequences for him, his family and his staff if he goes ahead with an arrest warrant for Netanyahu. “You have been warned.”

The Republican Party and the Israeli government are full of thuggish white nationalists. (source)

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Edith M. Lederer at AP, via HuffPost:

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor faced demands Tuesday for speedy action against Israeli leaders and a blistering Russian attack over the ICC’s arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin stemming from Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Karim Khan responded by telling the U.N. Security Council that he will not be swayed or intimidated as his team investigates possible war crimes or crimes against humanity in Gaza and the Palestinian territories as well as in Ukraine. Libya’s U.N. ambassador, Taher El-Sonni, told Khan that if the Libyan cases the ICC is investigating are so complex that they won’t be completed until the end of 2025, he should allocate the court’s efforts to the war in Gaza. El-Sonni claimed genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity are being perpetrated by Israeli forces. The world expects the ICC “to be courageous and to issue arrest warrants against officials of the Israeli regime who have repeated again and again that they want to commit genocidal actions against Palestinians,” El-Sonni said. “What are you waiting for, Mr. Khan?,” he added. “Don’t you see the threats against civilians, the potential threats against civilians in Rafah and the massacre that would happen at any time?”

[...] Last week, two Republican congressmen introduced the “Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act” to impose sanctions on ICC officials that go after the United States or its allies including Israel.

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan is facing a demand to issue arrest warrants to Israeli leaders over their genocide in Gaza in a more prompt manner.

[vyorei]

[sophia-zofia]

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Etan Ylessing

George Clooney reached out to a top White House aide after U.S. President Joe Biden criticized the International Criminal Court, threatening warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders with the legal help of his wife, Amal Clooney, according to the Washington Post.

As a veteran British-Lebanese human rights lawyer, Amal Clooney was part of a group of U.K.-based legal advisers who helped ICC prosecutor Karim Khan request a warrant for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his minister of defense Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders — Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh — over suspected war crimes committed as part of Israel‘s war in Gaza that followed the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks on southern Israel.  

Representatives for the Oscar-winning actor were not available for comment on the Washington Post report, which claimed George Clooney called Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president, after Biden denounced the ICC arrest warrants against the Israeli leaders as “outrageous.”

Amal Clooney wrote at the time on the site for the Clooney Foundation for Justice that she had looked to uphold the rule of international law and protect lives with her ICC legal advice.

“As a human rights lawyer, I will never accept that one child’s life has less value than another’s. I do not accept that any conflict should be beyond the reach of the law, nor that any perpetrator should be above the law. So I support the historic step that the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has taken to bring justice to victims of atrocities in Israel and Palestine,” she stated.

Behind the scenes, George Clooney was apparently concerned his wife could be impacted by sanctions threatened against the ICC for recommending Israeli and Hamas leaders be held accountable for alleged war crimes, according to The Washington Post.

His call to the White House also came ahead of a key fundraiser for Biden’s U.S. presidential reelection campaign set for next weekend in Los Angeles, an event that George Clooney is still expected to attend. The Clooney Foundation for Justice has as a mission providing free legal support and advocacy to victims of genocide, unlawful imprisonment and other human rights abuses. 

The Oct. 7 Hamas atrocities and Israel’s continuing military retaliation in Gaza — where the death toll has surpassed 35,000 people, many of them women and children — has touched off a war of words in Hollywood. 

[nando161mando]

"The claims about Cohen’s conduct emerged days after Bensouda’s successor, Karim Khan, requested arrest warrants for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the 2021 Gaza conflict."

[theivorybilledwoodpecker]

In a CNN interview on Monday, Khan described the letter as a threat, maintaining that the ICC’s values are synonymous with American beliefs. “And, of course, I’ve had some elected leaders speak to me and be very blunt. ‘This court is built for Africa and for thugs like Putin,’ was what one senior leader told me,” Khan said, adding that “we don’t view it like that”. “We are not going to be swayed by the different types of threats, some of which are public and some maybe are not,” he added.