13 June 2024

The United Nations was established in 1945 in order to achieve peace and security, and to make sure that the horrors of WWII and the Holocaust never happen again. International tribunals like the International Court of Justice were established. In 2000, the International Criminal Court was created to end impunity for heinous crimes. 

This international legal system has become corrupted and is collapsing. 

The UN-centric system has become a political playing field, where the enemies of Western values are able to manipulate UN bodies to advance their interests. Israel is the “canary in the coal mine” – the undermining of Israel’s sovereignty is a sign of a deeper problem.

This week the Security Council adopted a resolution purporting to require Hamas to accept the terms of a ceasefire proposal ostensibly agreed to by Israel. The proposal would essentially exonerate Hamas of its crimes, including the massacre on 7^th October, its incessant missile attacks and threats, and the taking of hostages. It would require Israel to give up its campaign to destroy Hamas. The Security Council resolution is unbalanced and unfair. 

The Commission is headed by South African lawyer Navay Pillai who is known for her anti-Israel views. The COI has an unprecedented, broad and open-ended mandate to collect evidence and identify perpetrators of alleged international crimes committed in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The COI’s mandate requires the Commission to assume that Israel is guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Basically, it is a witch hunt against the Jewish people. 

Together with her two colleagues, Pillay alleges that Israel’s actions also constituted “crimes against humanity” because of the "immense civilian losses", and that they included acts of “extermination.” Under international law, “crimes against humanity” are more serious than “war crimes”. So the message the COI is sending is: Israeli leaders are even worse criminals than Hamas leaders. That is an absurd and immoral finding given that Hamas started this war with its continued missile fire building up to its heinous massacre on 7th October - all part of its genocidal intention to kill as many Jews as possible. Israel, on the contrary, is conducting a war of self-defence on several fronts against the aggression of the Iranian regime. 

Of course, it is possible that Israeli military commanders make mistakes or use excessive or unnecessary force, and if that is the case the responsible persons should be brought to account. But wilful acts of aggression carried out with genocidal intent should not be placed on the same moral level with acts of defence carried out carelessly or with excessive force.  

The so-called “findings” were based on two reports by “independent experts” - one focusing on the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel and another on Israel’s military response. 

Regarding Israel’s actions, the commission alleged “a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population in Gaza…The commission found that the crimes against humanity of extermination; murder; gender persecution targeting Palestinian men and boys; forcible transfer; and torture and inhuman and cruel treatment were committed.” 

Israel has rejected the allegations and accused the commission of systematic bias.

It is incredible that the COI has the audacity to come out with these findings, at a time that Israel is fighting for its survival against hostile Islamist jihad aggression sponsored by its arch-enemy Iran, as well as taking all necessary action to recover the hostages taken on 7^thOctober in gross violation of all legal norms. 

Moreover, Israel’s actions are the subject of separate legal proceedings – including the International Court of Justice’s examination of allegations of “genocide” by Israel, and the International Criminal Court’s investigations into crimes committed on “the territory of the State of Palestine”. None of these judicial tribunals has reached a conclusive finding of Israeli crimes. So how does the COI think it has the necessary information to reach such damning conclusions? 

The COI is not a judicial tribunal. It is not independent, and it does not operate on the basis of judicial rules of evidence. It resembles more a Star Chamber, that imposes death penalties based on a pre-determined finding of guilt. 

The COI relies on so-called “experts”. This is the same trick that the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (Karim Khan) adopts – using so-called “independent experts” to buttress pre-determined conclusions. 

Seen in the context of other developments at the Security Council, the International Criminal Court and Court of Justice, this latest UN report is another nail in the coffin of the international legal system, that has shown itself to be biased and corrupt.

 Blinken: Hamas response to hostage proposal is unworkable 

“Hamas has proposed numerous changes to the proposal. … Some of the changes are workable, some are not,” the secretary of state said.

Did the ICC prosecutor choose advisers for their anti-Israel stance? 

At least some of the experts mentioned by Khan had expressed negative views towards the Jewish state long before the outbreak of the war.

Politicised decision-making a threat to hopes for lasting peace

Tzvi Fleischer at AIJAC: The extreme biases of the UN system – including the ICC and the ICJ – need to be called out because they threaten not only any hope for a lasting two-state peace between Israelis and Palestinians, but the viability of a system of international law as a way to provide global peace and security.