‘What genocide are they talking about?’ Warning issued to nations joining ICC attack on Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is raising questions about just what “genocide” is being addressed in the International Criminal Court’s recent decision to target him with an arrest warrant for alleged war crimes.

“The state of Israel is being accused of genocide at a time that we are taking action to defend ourselves from an enemy that is trying to commit genocide against us. We are accused of deliberately attacking civilians at a time that we are doing everything to prevent harm to civilians. And this is against an enemy that hides behind civilians and uses them as a human shield. So what genocide are they talking about there in The Hague?” he asked recently.

His comments came after the ICC took the unprecedented step of naming him, and other Israeli leaders over their response to Hamas’ terror attack on Israel a year ago, in which some 1,200 civilians were murdered, often in horrific ways, and hundreds more were kidnapped.

“We will not capitulate to pressure; together we will stand, together we will fight, and with God’s help, together we will win,” he said. “Israel utterly rejects the absurd and false actions and accusations against it by the ICC, which is a biased and discriminatory political body. There is no war more justified than the one Israel is conducting in Gaza since October 7, 2023, after the terrorist organization Hamas launched a deadly attack against it, committing the largest massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”

Yoav Gallant, formerly Netanyahu’s defense minister, said the ICC will be remembered in infamy.

And those nations who are not a part of the ICC’s political agenda are being warned about violating international law by cooperating with the ICC.

It is the American Center for Law and Justice that has taken action in response to the ICC’s anti-Israel agenda.

“In a shockingly unlawful attack on the sovereignty of Israel, the International Criminal Court (ICC) recently issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for simply acting in lawful self-defense in response to the horrific October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on innocent Israeli (and non-Israeli) men, women, children, and the elderly,” the organization explained. “Incredibly, the ICC chief prosecutor encouraged States that are not ICC members to collaborate with the ICC ‘in working towards accountability and upholding international law.’

“In other words, the ICC is urging nations that are not part of the ICC to violate international law and assist the ICC in this unlawful overreach,” the legal team explained.

It responded with a letter to 38 states that are not ICC members.

“We explained that under ‘a well-settled principle of customary international law, the ICC has no jurisdictional authority to issue arrest warrants for citizens of a state not a party to the Rome Statute (without that state’s consent).’ Since Israel has not ratified the Rome Statute, it is not subject to ICC jurisdiction, and as such, the ICC’s arrest warrants violate clearly established international law principles,” the legal organization explained.

“We also emphasized that non-party states are under no obligation, legal or otherwise, to cooperate with the ICC. In fact, since Israel has not waived immunity for its officials (by not ratifying the Rome Statute), the ICC prosecutor, by requesting collaboration with non-party states, is asking the requested states to act inconsistently with their obligations under international law,” the ACLJ reported.

“As such, we urged the states that we contacted ‘to counter what the [ICC prosecutor] is attempting to do and use all governmental authority at your disposal, including the imposition of sanctions on the ICC, to punish and deter this infringement on the sovereignty of Israel – an overreach that simultaneously threatens the sovereignty of all non-party states.'”

In fact, the international community, especially through the agendas of the United Nations, has attacked Israel more than any other country on earth.

The ACLJ continued, “We explained that the ‘ICC has not only undermined the security of Israel and triggered a broader regional destabilization across the Middle East, but its actions also threaten all non-party states’ jurisdictional protections.'”

The ICC now presents “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of all non-party states and merit immediate action,” the ACLJ said in its letter.

Proper responses, the letter said, would be for those non-party states to limit the travel of ICC officials and sanction the organization.

The report said, “The ICC’s reputation on the international stage has been faltering for years. The way that the ICC continues to unlawfully target Israel proves this ongoing problem. That is why the ACLJ refuses to let the ICC get away with these meritless arrest warrants.”