23 May 2024

Good on the Distinguished Gentleman from Vermont

I agree with Bernie Sanders.  The ICC is completely justified in issuing an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu:

US Senator Bernie Sanders expressed support for the requests by International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders and urged the US to respect international law.

"The ICC as I see it is trying to uphold international law and minimum standards of decency. Our government should do no less," Sanders told the Senate floor Tuesday night.

His remarks came after Khan applied for arrest warrants on Monday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three leaders of the Palestinian group Hamas for “war crimes and crimes against humanity” committed in Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Sanders said that when the ICC declared Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal last year, the US government welcomed its decision.

"Some have argued that it is unfair to compare the democratically elected head of the Israeli government to Putin, who runs an authoritarian system...Yes, democratically elected officials can commit war crimes," he said.

"The ICC is doing its job. It’s doing what it is supposed to do. We cannot only apply international law when it is convenient," Sanders added.

A lot of the issues with the current war in Israel are complex regarding the nature of warfare, when overwhelming (technically legal) force become indiscriminate force, (technically illegal), the right to Palestinian self-determination, etc.

Netanyahu's behavior is not complex.  It is plainly criminal.

His decisions both before October 7 have been driven by his desire to hold onto power by any means necessary, and as such he has acted in blatant disregard for international law and the interests of the state of Israel.

2 comments :

Anonymous said...

Bye.

Matthew Saroff said...

Sorry you feel that way. I am a Zionist, and I support the right to Israel's self defense, but I consider Netanyahu to be a clear and present danger to the state of Israel.
I believe that Netanyahu has been acting solely on the basis of his personal political considerations, and I believe that Israel, and the Palestinians have suffered as a result.

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