#gallant is a war criminal

[news4dzhozhar]

ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Hamas officials | Israel War on Gaza News

[odinsblog]

Collective punishment of an entire group is prohibited under international law. Israel’s proposed siege would be a war crime that indiscriminately harms innocent people, especially the sick, the disabled, the elderly and small children, who never supported Hamas, a group repeatedly propped up by Benjamin Netanyahu himself, to sow division amongst the Palestinian people.

This in no way excuses Hamas raping women and murdering innocent children and the elderly. That’s terrorism. That’s war crimes. A war crime doesn’t stop being a war crime based on who does it, or which side you support. I had the great misfortune of having watched some of the videos of what happened. I don’t know how anyone can see this and not be heartbroken and dismiss it because of some idiotic, “they had it coming” mentality.

Look, Palestine is being oppressed. By Israel. Israel is doing the oppression. Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal. We can and should support Palestine. We do not, however, have to ignore war crimes to support Palestine. Similarly, Western media outlets should stop ignoring and downplaying Israel’s long and well documented history of war crimes and other atrocities committed against Palestinian civilians and reporters.

And please pay close attention to who resorts to antisemitism to “defend” Palestine. The cause of the Palestinian people is strong enough without using bigotry and racism.

(video)

Finally, this is not a “war” between Palestine and Israel. Those words disingenuously imply a false equivalence, that both sides are evenly matched. They are not. The Palestinian ≠ Hamas, and the Palestinian people and Gazans do not have tanks, armored personnel carriers, helicopters, an air force, a navy, an army, nuclear weapons, and a sophisticated missile defense system. Israel, however, does have all of those things.

Hamas ≠ Palestine.

Palestinians do not have to be the perfect victims to deserve our support and sympathy.

[i-am-aprl]

International Criminal Court have submitted applications for arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for Gaza war crimes.

Video: ICC

[cavalierzee]

Hauntingly Beautiful Bombardment?

Is it also okay to say the rockets that strike Israel from Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Etc., are “Hauntingly Beautiful?”

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Sen. Sanders: ICC ‘right’ to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli defense official Gallant

Alexander Bolton at The Hill:

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) on Monday defended the International Criminal Court (ICC) for seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant along with senior Hamas officials, breaking with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on the controversial issue. “The ICC prosecutor is right to take these actions. These arrest warrants may or may not be carried out, but it is imperative that the global community uphold international law,” Sanders said in a statement. “Without these standards of decency and morality, this planet may rapidly descend into anarchy, never-ending wars, and barbarism.” Sanders argued that Netanyahu’s regime has “waged an unprecedented war of destruction against the entire Palestinian people, which has killed or injured over 5 percent of the population.” He issued his statement at around the same time that Schumer denounced the ICC for seeking warrants to arrest Netanyahu, Gallant and three senior Hamas officials.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has the correct response to the ICC issuing arrest warrants to Israel leaders Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant and 3 senior Hamas leaders. This is in contrast to President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)'s condemnatory attacks against the ICC decision.

[miralines]

I don’t have the brainpower to elaborate on this the way it deserves but the Toy Soldier is a brilliant parody of militarism and Dapper Steampunk Englishness that really doesn’t get enough credit

[documenting-apartheid]

August 30, 2024 - Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu reportedly told Defense Minister Gallant that he was prioritizing maintaining troops in the Philadelphi Corridor over saving the lives of the remaining hostages.

"It was the latest evidence of the divide between Netanyahu and the security establishment. Gallant and the security chiefs have repeatedly pushed Netanyahu for more compromise in the negotiations, particularly regarding the Philadelphi Corridor, fearing that the premier’s hardline positions are scuttling a deal."

Gallant confronts Netanyahu

"Gallant then told the cabinet they faced a choice: to remain in the corridor or to return the hostages. “You are deciding to stay in the Philadelphi Corridor. Is this logical to you? There are living (hostages) there!” Gallant exclaimed. Dermer replied, “The prime minister can do as he likes,” to which Gallant responded, “The prime minister can indeed make all the decisions, and he can also decide to kill all the hostages.”

Hostage families forum horrified by cabinet quotes

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum responded to the leaked quotes from the security cabinet meeting by demanding that Netanyahu publicly declare that he has given up on the lives of hostages in favor of continued IDF presence on the Philadelphi Corridor. “The quotes from the cabinet meeting should cause every Israeli citizen to lose sleep,” the forum said in a statement. “Every citizen should know that if they are to be kidnapped from their bed in their pajamas on a Saturday morning, their prime minister will do everything to keep his seat, even at the cost of leaving them to die in the Hamas tunnels in Gaza.”

[nando161mando]

"The claims about Cohen’s conduct emerged days after Bensouda’s successor, Karim Khan, requested arrest warrants for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the 2021 Gaza conflict."

[agentfascinateur]

The most "moral" Israeli army is in actual fact the most "criminal"

From the horse's mouth.

[odinsblog]

“I can also confirm today that I have reasonable grounds to believe, on the basis of evidence collected and examined by my office, that Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Minister of Defense, Yoav Galant, bear criminal responsibility for the following international crimes committed on the territory of the State of Palestine from at least the 8 October 2023.

The crimes include starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, willfully causing great suffering, serious injury to body or health or cruel treatment, willful killing or murder, and intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, as well as crimes against humanity of extermination and or murder, persecution and allegations of crimes of committing other inhumane acts. It's alleged that these crimes were committed in the context of the ongoing armed conflict and as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza pursuant to a state policy.

Unfortunately, these crimes continue to this day.

My office submits that these individuals, through a common plan, have systematically deprived the civilian population of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival.

We have reached that conclusion based upon interviews with survivors, many eyewitnesses, experts from satellite imagery, statements from Israeli officials, including the two individuals subject to the present application.”

—Karim Khan, ICC Chief Prosecutor

[head-post]

EU’s Varhelyi meets with Israeli PM amid ICC prosecutor’s arrest warrant requests

European Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday amid a request by the International Criminal Court prosecutor to issue arrest warrants against them for alleged war crimes.

Varhelyi wrote on X:

Honoured to meet Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss pressing issues in our bilateral relations, the war with Hamas, humanitarian assistance for the people in Gaza and strategic challenge for the region from Iran.

Asked whether European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had approved the meeting, a spokesperson said commissioners do not require prior approval for such a meeting. He also added:

The president trusts that he is conveying the EU position on all bilateral and regional issues to his interlocutors.

Varhelyi’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On May 20, the International Criminal Court prosecutor said he had requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence chief and three Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army continues its offensive on Rafah with artillery strikes. Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis share his view of the situation on X:

As the bombs continue to fall, it is hard to imagine Peace. But that could reflect our failure to imagine two states whose purpose is to bring the two people closer, not to create two apartheid states where there is now one.

Read more HERE

[cavalierzee]

This Is Deir al-Balah

Child Killing SAVAGES!

August 20, 2024

Sulaiman Ahmed

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Bethan McKernan at The Guardian:

The chief prosecutor of the international criminal court has said he is seeking arrest warrants for senior Hamas and Israeli officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant. Karim Khan said his office had applied to the world court’s pre-trial chamber for arrest warrants for the military and political leaders on both sides for crimes committed during Hamas’s 7 October attack and the ensuing war in Gaza.

He named Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas chief in Gaza, and Mohammed Deif, the commander of its military wing, considered to be the masterminds of the 7 October assault, as well as Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the group’s political bureau, who is based in Qatar, as wanted for crimes of extermination, murder, hostage-taking, rape, sexual assault and torture. In an extraordinary rebuke of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and its conduct in the war in Gaza, Netanyahu and Gallant are accused of extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, the denial of humanitarian relief supplies and deliberately targeting civilians. Monday’s statement notably does not include any Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officials, such as its chief of staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, focusing instead on political decision-making. Khan, the British ICC prosecutor, must request the warrants for the Hamas and Israeli suspects from a pre-trial panel of three judges, who take on average two months to consider the evidence and determine if the proceedings can move forward. The ICC has previously issued warrants for Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, the Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony and the former president of Sudan Omar al-Bashir, but no leader of a “western-style” democracy has ever been issued a warrant.

While there is no imminent likelihood of prosecution, since Israel is not a member of the court, ICC warrants could put Israeli officials at risk of arrest abroad, further deepening the country’s growing international isolation over its conduct in the war in Gaza. The move also presents fresh challenges for Israel’s western allies, who are already struggling to reconcile support for the Jewish state with growing evidence of war crimes in the seven-month-old conflict and respect for the post-second world war rules-based order. Netanyahu described the prosecutor’s accusations against him as a “disgrace”, saying: “I reject with disgust The Hague prosecutor’s comparison between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas. “With what audacity do you dare compare the monsters of Hamas to the soldiers of the IDF, the most moral army in the world?” Joe Biden, the US president, described the move as “outrageous” in a statement, adding: “Whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”

[...]

Condemnation of Khan’s decision from across the Israeli political spectrum was swift. The Israeli opposition leader, Yair Lapid, called the ICC’s actions a “disaster”. Benny Gantz, a former military chief and member of Israel’s war cabinet alongside Netanyahu and Gallant, criticised the ICC’s announcement, saying Israel fought with “one of the strictest” moral codes and had a “robust judiciary capable of investigating itself”. Khan suggested heavily in his statement that Israel’s judicial system “shields suspects”. Last year’s conviction rate for Palestinians tried in Israeli military courts was 96%, while fewer than 1% of complaints against Israeli soldiers ended in a conviction, according to the US Department of State’s annual human rights report.

Hamas, too, was critical of Khan’s announcement. The ICC prosecutor’s decision “equates the victim with the executioner”, the senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters. Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz described the chief prosecutor’s decision as “a historic disgrace” that would be “remembered forever”. The US Republican party is all but certain to pursue sanctions against members of the ICC as a result of Khan’s announcement; a group of a dozen Republican senators wrote a letter earlier this month warning his office: “Target Israel and we will target you.” Sanctions were levied by the Trump administration over the court’s investigations into Israel and US actions in Afghanistan, but later reversed by Joe Biden. In 2021, Khan decided to drop the US from the ICC’s Afghanistan file.

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan is seeking arrest warrants for senior Israel Apartheid State and Hamas officials, such as Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Gaza’s Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

[sayruq]

The United Nations said Tuesday it suspended food distribution in the southern Gaza city of Rafah due to lack of supplies and insecurity. It also said no aid trucks entered in the past two days via a floating pier set up by the U.S. for sea deliveries. The U.N. has not specified how many people have stayed in Rafah since the Israeli military began its intensified assault there two weeks ago, but apparently several hundred thousand people remain. The World Food Program said it was also running out of food for central Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing Rafah have sought shelter in a chaotic exodus, setting up new tent camps or crowding into areas already devastated by previous Israeli offensives. Abeer Etefa, a spokesperson for the U.N’s World Food Program, warned that “humanitarian operations in Gaza are near collapse.” If food and other supplies don’t resume entering Gaza “in massive quantities, famine-like conditions will spread,” she said.

The prosecutor at the International Criminal Court cited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged “use of starvation as a method of warfare,” a charge they and other Israeli officials angrily deny. The prosecutor accused three Hamas leaders of war crimes over killings of civilians in the group’s Oct. 7 attack. The U.N says some 1.1 million people in Gaza – nearly half the population — face catastrophic levels of hunger and that the territory is on the brink of famine. The crisis in humanitarian supplies has spiraled in the two weeks since Israel launched an incursion into Rafah on May 6, vowing to root out Hamas fighters. Troops seized the Rafah crossing into Egypt, which has been closed since. Since May 10, only about three dozen trucks made it into Gaza via the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel because fighting makes it difficult for aid workers to reach it, the U.N. says. For months, the U.N. has warned that an Israeli assault on Rafah could wreck the effort to get food, medicine and other supplies to Palestinians across Gaza. Throughout the war, Rafah has been filled with scenes of hungry children holding out pots and plastic containers at makeshift soup kitchens, with many families reduced to eating only one meal a day. The city’s population had swelled to some 1.3 million people, most of whom fled fighting elsewhere. Around 810,000 people have streamed out of Rafah, although Israel says it has not launched the full-fledged invasion of the city it had planned. The United States has said Israel did not present a “credible” plan for evacuating the population or keeping it safe. The main agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, announced the suspension of distribution in Rafah in a post on X, without elaborating beyond citing the lack of supplies. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UNRWA distribution center and the WFP’s warehouses in Rafah were “inaccessible due to ongoing military operations.”

An absolute nightmare

[heritageposts]

On the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Benjamin NETANYAHU, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav GALLANT, the Minister of Defence of Israel, bear criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 8 October 2023:

Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Statute;

Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health contrary to article 8(2)(a)(iii), or cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);

Wilful killing contrary to article 8(2)(a)(i), or Murder as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);

Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime contrary to articles 8(2)(b)(i), or 8(2)(e)(i);

Extermination and/or murder contrary to articles 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(a), including in the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity;

Persecution as a crime against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(h);

Other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(k).