By International Workers’ Unity – Fourth International
20 May 2024. The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Karim Kahn, has requested the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu and his Minister of Defence, Yoav Galant, for ‘war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip committed on the territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza Strip) since at least 8 October 2023’.
After the demands presented by South Africa and the support of several countries such as Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, and Cuba and the growing global mobilisation to support the Palestinian resistance, for the first time in history, since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, a prosecutor of the Hague Court generates a claim of this kind, giving a strong political blow to Netanyahu and his Apartheid regime.
A triumph of Palestinian mobilisation and resistance
The encampments of the student movement in the big cities of the United States, Europe, and Latin America have cornered Netanyahu. The mobilisation is spreading day by day. On Sunday 19 May, more than 60,000 people mobilised in Brussels to denounce Israel’s war crimes. There were also mobilisations in Barcelona and tens of countries.
The war crimes did not start on 8th October last year. Since its creation, the state of Israel has built itself through the extermination of the Palestinian people, the mass displacement of Palestinians, and the criminal colonisation of Palestinian territory with armed settlers. However the global mobilisation and the increased isolation of Netanyahu have undermined the impunity granted by imperialism, forcing a prosecutor to issue the arrest warrant.
The limitations of the ICC
The ICC prosecutor is not only calling for Netanyahu’s arrest. It equates the systematic war crimes of the Israeli state with the legitimate leadership of the Palestinian resistance by calling for the arrest of three Hamas leaders. We reject this persecution of Hamas leaders, who are the government of the Gaza Strip. The ICC prosecutor fails to sanction US and European imperialism for their support of the imperialist enclave in the Middle East.
The ICC’s rulings are not final and do not affect states like Israel that do not acknowledge its authority. But, the prosecutor’s proposal is a political fact that will hit Israel even harder and increase its world isolation. We urge the people of the world to support Palestinian resistance until they imprison Netanyahu and Israeli forces and settlers to withdraw from Palestinian territory.
We must deepen the resistance until Israel withdraws from Palestine
We, the fighters of the world, must deepen the ongoing mobilisations, extend them and multiply them. Support for the ‘student intifada’ camps is fundamental to continue demanding that all governments of the world break diplomatic, political, economic, military, and cultural relations with Israel, now condemned for genocide. Let’s continue the global mobilisation to end genocide, open borders for aid, and achieve an immediate ceasefire. Not to the invasion of Rafah! For the withdrawal of all Zionist troops from the whole historical territory of Palestine from the river to the sea! For the return of all refugees to their land! Israel out of Palestine! Out Israel from Palestine! For a single, secular, democratic and non-racist Palestine! Free Palestine from the river to the sea!
International Workers’ Unity – Fourth International
20 May 2024
