Is This The End of ICC?
Alameen
7-23-2025
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The global North – bastions of democracy, free speech, justice, equality, and human rights – now bent on ensuring that The Global South’s voices are permanently silenced at the United Nations – Stone-walled behind their VETO POWER.
The Global North now wants to eliminate Global South’s access to justice through International Criminal Courts. Global North have successfully made the UN Irrelevant. They now want to shut down the ICC. To achieve this, it seems as if the Global North, led by the US, UK, and Israel are resorting to bullying tactics which when carefully examined may amount to international thuggery.
The world witnessed that the United States, under Biden Administration, provided Israel, an absolute impunity to continue its genocide of the indigenous Palestinian population in Gaza, by exercising its Veto power at the United Nations, thumbing its nose at international community and in violation of the international laws. Making the UN a dysfunctional and powerless to put an end to the most graphically documented genocide and ethnic cleansing of Indigenous people of Palestine.
On 12 October 2023, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan stated that both war crimes committed by Palestinians on Israeli territory and by Israelis on Palestinian territory during the Gaza war would be within the jurisdiction of the ICC's Palestine investigation. Thus, paving the way for the international community, stone-walled, behind US Veto power at the UN to hold Israel responsible for atrocities against the Palestinians.
The Global South finally had an avenue to confront the powerful Global North bent on shielding Israeli war criminals, vis-à-vis their own complacency and involvement in this heinous genocide.
On December 29, 2023, the Global South, led by South Africa, turned to the International Criminal Courts, to get justice for the victims of Palestinian Genocide alleging Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Israeli defence minister, Yaov Gallant of war crimes.
On May 20, 2024, Khan announced that he would file applications for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.
In total, 125 member nations are signatories to the Rome Statute, including United Kingdom, France, Italy, Greece, and Canada. It lays down the framework to establish ICC, and hold individuals, countries, and its leadership if they engage in war crimes, or crimes against humanity. Once a warrant has been issued against an individual, the ICC member nations are required to arrest war criminals with outstanding warrants if the individual is travelling or visiting through their boundaries.
Neither the U.S. nor Israel are signatories top the Rome Statute.
Now, United States, under trump Administration is hell-bent determined to ensure that Global South last resort for International Justice for the war crimes committed against them and their citizens by the Global North’s and its ilk, is shutdown permanently.
The million dollar question now is, can the International Criminal Court (ICC) survive the sweeping attacks by powerful nations, such as US and UK, while other ICC member nations, such as France, Greece and Italy turn a blind eye to their international commitment, signatories to Rome Statute. The treaty that established the Hague based ICC in 2002.
In a classic example of international thuggery and of course, in an evident attempt to protect the modern-day War Criminals, The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister, Yaov Gallant, and their ilk, both the Trump administration and the British establishment has declared their all-out war against the ICC and ICC’s Chief Prosecutor, Mr. Karim Khan, being threatened directly, in presence of his wife Back in May 2025.
According to the Al Jazeera, “The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, has been warned that if arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant are not withdrawn, he and the ICC would be “destroyed”, the Middle East Eye (MEE) reports.”
“The warning was delivered in May to Khan by Nicholas Kaufman, a British-Israeli defence lawyer at the court linked to a Netanyahu adviser who said the Israeli leader’s legal adviser told him he was “authorised” to make Khan a proposal that would allow Khan to “climb down the tree”, the news website said.”
In fact, according to the media reports, when threatening Mr. Khan, the exact words used were, “If he didn’t cooperate. They will destroy you and they will destroy the courts.”
Immediately after the Khan issued international arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, adamantly refusing to buckle, despite being threatened by fellow ICC lawyers from UK. He is forced to take leave of absence while being “investigated” for sexual abuse allegations levelled against him. It seems as if the international thugs are following thru on their threats.
In addition, according to the MEE reports, “Under the Trump Administration, the Chief Prosecutor has been sanctioned as have four ICC judges, with warnings that US can sanctioned ICC itself.”
According to the media reports, ICC judges credit cards have been cancelled, expense accounts blocked, restricting their movements and their abilities to ensure justice is served.
According to MEE, “The UK did not publicly threaten Khan, but MEE has revealed that last April, David Cameron, then the British foreign secretary, threatened in a phone call with Khan that the UK would defund and withdraw from the ICC if the court issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders.”
Since the issuance of warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, “the Israeli defendants are internationally wanted suspects, and ICC member states are under legal obligation to arrest them although several have been wary to agree to it.”
MSN reported, “Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, hit out this month against countries that have allowed Netanyahu to fly over their airspace en route to the United States, suggesting that they may have flouted their obligations under international law.”
“Albanese said the governments of Italy, France and Greece needed to explain why they provided “safe passage” to Netanyahu, who they were theoretically “obligated to arrest” as an internationally wanted suspect when he flew over their territory on his way to meet US President Donald Trump for talks.”
The question remains what will the world do to protect our collective rights in light of powerful international thugs who hide behind laws and abuse process and consistently deal in bad faith?
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