Why the world should ensure Netanyahu appears before ICC

The West, even in its alliance with and defence of Israel, should adhere to international law and order. The victims of Israeli military excesses in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East are as much a part of humanity as are those of continued Hamas attacks on Israel. The West must, therefore, in the spirit of fairness, recognise the jurisdiction of and cooperate with the ICC in the enforcement of arrest warrants issued against both Palestinian and Israeli suspects accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It's heartening that, despite Washington's slamming of the decision, countries in the West, including France, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Switzerland, joined rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch in reacting favourably to it, with some expressing a willingness to cooperate with the court in its enforcement.

This, coming on the heels of calls, including increasingly from some countries long considered staunch allies of Israel in the West, for the institutional and diplomatic recognition of Palestine's statehood, signals an important volte-face from policy obduracy and relational monomania in the West long seen as inimical to the pursuit of peace between Israel and her neighbours.

Since the Hamas attacks on Israel of October 7 last year, which killed about 1,400 people, Israel has bombarded, not just Gaza—which has been Hamas-administered since 2007—and other parts of Palestinian territory, but also southern Lebanon, in retaliation for attacks by Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. The war has killed an estimated 45,000 people in Palestine alone thus far along with the two militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah's leaders, Ismail Haniyeh and Hassan Nasrallah, respectively.

The US has, not only defended Israel's actions in Gaza, but also vetoed nearly every UN Security Council resolution aimed at reaching a ceasefire. In the US itself, pro-Palestinian protesters—including college students and professors—condemning Israel's actions in Gaza have been arrested. And it was, therefore, not surprising to see Washington and Tel Aviv lead the near-muted condemnation of the ICC's issuance of arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.

The court doesn't have its own police force and depends, mainly, on signatory member states' help and cooperation for the smooth enforcement of its orders. The UN Security Council, of which the US, the UK, France, Russia and China are veto-vote-wielding permanent members, however, expects cooperation with the court of all countries in the world regardless of whether or not they are signatories to the court's founding treaty.

It's this all-binding nature of international law, coupled with the moral conflict of defending and aiding the commission, by Israel, of war crimes in Gaza, that should signpost Washington in the direction of self-criticism and moral re-enculturation.