Former Israeli diplomat abhors 'clueless' ICC warrants on Netanyahu, Gallant - interview

The ICC's issuance of arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant is a "date that will live in infamy," former Israeli diplomat and former foreign ministry official, Yigal Palmor, told the Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

While he said that it was "too early to speak of the implications with certainty," Palmor told the Post that the impact would be extensive.

"It seems that not only has the ICC issued arrest warrants, in its communiqué it has also determined guilt."

"The guilt of Netanyahu and Gallant is presented as an established fact," Palmor added.

The ICC's statement writes that "the Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu [and] Mr Gallant each bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts."

Palmor told the Post that with such an establishment of guilt, there is no need for any legal process.

"The ICC is not seeking to arrest suspects for their involvement in alleged crimes, it has determined that the crimes have been committed, and that they were committed by these specific individuals."

He added that the warrants cross a line that was "very clear and agreed upon since day one: the line that separates democratic regimes - where the justice system is more or less independent - and the non-democratic regimes - where the justice system is dependent on international intervention."

Of the list of around 70 people indicted by the ICC, most of them are from countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Sudan, Libya, and Afghanistan. Russian President Vladimir Putin also has an arrest warrant out against him, as well as several other Russian generals.

According to the Freedom House ratings, none of these countries are democratic.

Israel, however, is rated 74/100 on the democratic scale, and is classed as "free."

"This line was very, very clear," Palmor said. "Now they have erased that line all together."

He explained that given the erasure of this clear boundary, "everything is permitted now."

The ruling means everyone could now sue everyone else. "If you dislike the principles of a certain government, you are now permitted to intervene from the outside, essentially trespassing a country's sovereignty," he said.

"The independence of a local justice system will count for nothing."

Palmor added that the fact that Prime Minister Netanyahu is currently standing trial in his own country, for alleged crimes, shows that the Israeli justice system works, and does not need external intervention.

The "thoughtless, clueless" decision has disrupted the whole system of international justice, Palmor stated, "destroying and obliterating the founding principles of the ICC."

An eliminated Hamas chief made the list

Added to this is the ridiculousness of the arrest warrant against Mohammed Deif, Palmor continued, who Israel and Hamas have both confirmed is dead.

Hamas sources admitted to the death of Mohammed Deif, the former head of the terror organization’s military wing, earlier this month in the Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.

"By trying to show balance, it ridiculed them even more," Palmor added.

While countries can pull out of the Rome Statute (and have, such as the Philippines and South Africa in the past), those party to the Statute must follow the ruling of the ICC.

"As long as it is in the interest of certain countries to make it seem like the international justice system works, they won't say anything about the hypocrisy of the ruling," Palmor told the Post.

He added that he wanted to make it clear he was not accusing the ICC of antisemitism, but simply that "they are living in a bubble and they don't think about the larger consequences of what they have just done."

Palmor added that the warrants will produce a "strong backwind to all movements who are seeking to delegitimize, criminalize and marginalize Israel in general."

Movements such as the BDS movement can now use the warrants as evidence for their campaigns against Israel.

"This is a date that will live in infamy," he concluded.