The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has opened a war crimes investigation into war crimes committed in the territories occupied by Israel. An examination of events in that apartheid state is long overdue.
Fatou Bensouda said the probe would cover events in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip since June 2014.
Last month, the Hague-based court ruled that it could exercise its criminal jurisdiction over the territories.
Israel rejected Ms Bensouda’s decision, while Palestinian officials praised it.
The US expressed disappointment and opposition to the move.
…Israel has never ratified the Rome Statute, but the court ruled that it had jurisdiction because the United Nations secretary general accepted the Palestinians’ accession to the treaty in 2015.
Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinians claim the territories for a future independent state.
…In a statement issued on Wednesday, Ms Bensouda explained that her office was obliged to act “where a state party has referred a situation” to it and “it is determined that a reasonable basis exists to commence an investigation”.
Ms Bensouda said she had carried out a “painstaking preliminary examination” that lasted close to five years and promised that the investigation would be conducted independently, impartially and objectively, without fear or favour.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that this move is “the essence of anti-Semitism and the essence of hypocrisy” because of course that is the usual deflection tactic by supporters of Israel whenever its apartheid policies and atrocious treatment of Palestinians are even investigated let alone criticized.
Labeling any critic of Israel or a supporter of BDS as an anti-Semite ha become so routine that it has ceased to have any impact. Whenever I have a post criticizing the apartheid policies of the Israeli government, I will often find commenters popping up accusing me of being an anti-Semite myself. Israel has a propaganda program known as ‘hasbara’ that monitors the internet and trains and then pays people to go to sites critical of Israel and defend its actions.
You can expect the Biden administration to continue to provide cover for Israel to enable it o continue its transgressions. SNL on Israeli apartheid. Bernie Sanders is one of the few members of congress that is willing to criticize Israel, most recently for starving Palestinians of covid-19 vaccines while putting on a token show for the benefit of foreigners, prompting even Saturday Night Live to take a swipe.
This 👆 is their 2nd best dig since the un-aired Chuck Hagel confirmation parody where they skewered US politicians for over-the-top pandering to Israel: pic.twitter.com/8FU9JlH7qd
— Omar Baddar عمر بدّار (@OmarBaddar) February 21, 2021
It does not surprise me that the second clip was NOT aired on the show.
I read the headline and just thought “What’s the POINT?”.
Shockerdoobie. I’m surprised they even bothered to respond, either of them (Israel or the US). Seriously, I don’t know why the expressed US/Israel diplomatic response to such things isn’t “Yeah, whatever”, because it might as well be.
Yeah, I’m not too crazy about Boris Johnson; therefore I hate all British people.
For the last four years, I guess I hated all Americans too.
Everybody on Fox who criticizes the Biden administration hate Americans now, I guess.
That’s how it works, right?
I agree wth #2 the other Bruce. A lot of the pro-Netanyahu claims are conflating opposition to his views with opposition to the Jewish people. It is as if those who run against this one leader are somehow enemies of the state. It is implying that Israel is and should be a one-party state, and that all Americans should support Israel’s unanimous decision to be a one-party state.
I don’t think Israel is a one-party state, or that any country should be.
Don’t forget the inverse tactic to calling every criticism of Israel anti-Semetic : claiming every anti-Semitic utterance is anti-Israel. That allows the pro-Israel lobby to find enemies of the state behind any ignorant slur and bigoted remark. As heinous as they are, to suggest that there’s an existential threat to implied in most cases is laughable. It’s like calling criticisms of capitalism anti-American.
Here’s a recent example :
https://twitter.com/Israellycool/status/1365164935198748672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1365164935198748672%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwhyevolutionistrue.com%2Fpage%2F2%2F
@sonofrojblake(#1):
They respond because it chips away at their credibility if not opposed because if the probe gains traction, never mind gets to a point where they put out arrest requests, it directly counters their claims.
Yeah right, like they give a shit.
They can put out arrest requests till they’re blue in the face, the Israeli/American response will be “fuck off”. And there’s no answer to that, because they have ALL THE GUNS (and nukes).
To say that the US doesn’t really give a shit about the ICC is to dramatically understate the matter: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-Members'_Protection_Act
Not so much “yeah, whatever” as “touch us and we will fuck you up”.
FINALLY!
Israel needs to be held accountable!
Nothing will happen so long as USA has Israel’s back, and the Biden administration definitely does. The only beneficial effect this thing will have is that Stev0R will be irritated.