คนต่อไปที่จะขึ้นศาลที่กรุงเฮ็กได้แก่ Benjamin Netanyahu, Next man to The Hague?

He could become the next world leader to face charges in The Hague

Wolfgang Hansson

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's.

Updated 14.22 | Published 14.08

 

 
Benjamin Netanyahu receives harsh criticism after the alarm of famine disaster in Gaza. Photo: Gil Cohen-Magen/AP

Whether it happens with great courage or is "only" a consequence of the war, it is not possible to turn a blind eye to the fact that Israel is using starvation as a weapon in its war against Hamas, branded as a terrorist.

The follow-up question given is; Will Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be the next world leader to be indicted by the Hague war crimes tribunal?

Warnings of famine and starvation in Gaza have been pouring in for months. In recent days, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Unicef have been among those who have sounded the alarm. They are just a few of many who have pointed out that the aid shipments that Israel allows into Gaza are far too few to be able to supply the completely cut-off enclave's roughly two million inhabitants with sufficient amounts of food, water, medicine and other necessary goods.

Israel defends itself by saying that the cargo must be checked so that weapons, building materials or other products that Hamas can use in the war against Israel are not hidden there.

The outside world is trying to pressure Israel to allow more aid, but even if Netanyahu sometimes sounds like he is prepared to do so, very little is happening on the ground.

 

Before the war, 500 trucks carrying supplies entered Gaza every day. Now it is almost never more than 200 and often less than that.

The humanitarian disaster created by the war is now about to turn into a famine created by Israel. Human Rights Watch already accused Israel at the end of December of using starvation as a weapon. Similar statements have come from both UN chief Gutierrez and EU "Foreign Minister" Joseph Borrell.

Netanyahu and other ministers in his far-right government say they are not using starvation as a weapon, but the outside world is not blind.
 

It has gone so far that US President Joe Biden has ordered US troops to build an emergency port in Gaza that can receive aid by sea. Since a few weeks ago, the United States and some other countries have been dropping emergency aid by parachute from the air.

Israel has not protested but it is not from Netanyahu that the initiatives will bring in more help.

Instead, the Israeli prime minister seems to believe that if the people of Gaza are forced to starve, they will blame Hamas for their plight. Just as he believes the same thing will happen when Israel bombs residential buildings in Gaza.

The destruction is enormous in Gaza. Photo: Ariel Schalit/AP

Guaranteed, there are the occasional Palestinian who curses Hamas for what their terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 of last year has led to. But most of the hatred has been directed at Israel. Netanyahu's starvation tactics will backfire on Israel with full force in the form of even greater Palestinian anger against Israel. A red-hot hatred that at some point in the future will trigger new acts of terror against the Jewish state.

In other words, the tactic defeats its purpose.

Apart from that, Netanyahu risks committing war crimes and turning Israel into a pariah state in the eyes of the outside world.
 
Deliberately starving the civilian population to death is not compatible with the laws of war. While it is debatable how many bombs are a proportionate response to the Hamas terrorist attack, it is much more difficult to wriggle out of the accusations of starvation.

Last year, the war crimes court, ICC, indicted Russian President Putin. Not for the most obvious, that Russian soldiers committed terrible war crimes against civilians in Butja and other places in Ukraine, but because he allowed children to be taken from Ukraine to Russia. A concrete act that is relatively easy to prove.

It wouldn't surprise me if Netanyahu is the next world leader to end up on the war crimes tribunal's indictment list.

If it really happens, it depends very much on two things.

• What the end result of the war against Hamas will be. How many Palestinians will have starved to death by the time it's over? Netanyahu still has the option of preventing a full-scale famine by allowing massive influxes of aid. The food and medicines are available. It is Israel that prevents them from coming forward.
• A prosecution against Netanyahu or others in the Israeli government must be initiated. South Africa has already sued Israel for genocide before the International Court of Justice, ICJ. But then it is the State of Israel that stands accused. Not individuals. It will probably take several years be

The ICC, the International Criminal Court, considers war crimes committed in the Israeli-occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza to fall under its mandate, even though Israel does not recognize the court. Previous events are already being reviewed.
 
Netanyahu is playing a high game. Israel is about to lose much of its support from the West.

The EU will soon decide on sanctions against extreme Israeli settlers who it believes are further inflaming the conflict by forcibly seizing Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. Even German Chancellor Scholz is demanding that Israel let in more aid. Germany, which for historical reasons has always stood firmly on Israel's side.

Chuck Schumer calls on Israel to hold new elections. Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Joe Biden also demands that Netanyahu avert the famine. He publicly applauded a speech by Democratic Senate Speaker Chuck Schumer calling on Israel to hold new elections and get rid of Netanyahu.

The outside world wants to see an end to Netanyahu's starvation tactics. How much longer can he continue to turn a deaf ear?