ICC threatens Israeli leaders with arrest warrants, uses moral equivalence as justification

The Intl. Criminal Court's again proving useless by threatening to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, and it's entirely possible that by sharp contrast, they won't do the same with Hamas leaders, no matter what moral equivalence they're using to shield their plans for Israeli politicians:

Prosecutor Karim Khan of the International Criminal Court (ICC) formally requested arrest warrants on Monday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and several leaders of the genocidal Hamas terrorist organization.

Khan equated Israel’s self-defense operations against Hamas in Gaza to the widespread atrocities committed in Israel by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, explicitly calling the self-defense operation to uproot Hamas from Gaza, a territory it has controlled since 2007, “criminal.”

[...] Khan requested warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant as well as several high-ranking Hamas terrorists: terror chief Yahya Sinwar, “political” leader Ismail Haniyeh, and the “commander-in-chief” of Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri.

Despite what's stated above, it's unlikely they'll actually follow through seriously on warrants against Hamas overlords. This is offensive in the extreme how differences are being blurred between Israel and the Islamofascist enemy, and all via a man who may have visited the site of the tragedy last year, yet clearly was not changed one bit by what he saw. Khan should not enter Israel again if this is how he behaves.

His positions have already drawn condemnations for the damage they've caused millions of years ago:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the decision by International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan on Monday to seek warrants against him and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the war in Gaza.

Khan also announced that he would pursue indictments against three Hamas leaders. Still, the unprecedented prosecution would place Israel on a morally equivalent level with Hamas and delegitimize defenes against terror.

Netanyahu posted videos in Hebrew and English. The English version follows below (via Prime Minister’s Office):

Mike Pompeo's also responded:

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that President Joe Biden should restore President Donald Trump’s 2020 sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), which Biden reversed soon after taking office, in April 2021.

The sad thing, however, is that not all foreign governments are opposing this kangaroo court act, and even the USA's under Joe Biden can't be trusted to actually oppose this convincingly, even though the ICC's more than willing to go after American military officials over similarly trumped up accusations. What the European governments supporting this move are doing hurts European citizens too by extension. That aside, this all makes clear why the ICC is worthless, and has doubtless been for a long time. No sane person should support them in any way, and it's entirely possible the ICC could go after 911 Families too, given the chance.

Did the Biden regime approve of ICC arrest warrants for Netanyahu?

According to Robert Spencer, it looks like a recent report is warning that approval could've been given by Biden for what even the ICC could be planning:

If a Wednesday report in the Israeli media is accurate, this is one of the most, if not the most, craven betrayal of an ally in American history, and in the entire world’s history.

The Israeli journalist Amit Segal published a Hebrew-language story in the popular Israeli news outlet Mako that reveals an American betrayal of Israel of stupefying magnitude. “Very senior officials associated with the International Criminal Court in The Hague,” wrote Segal, “have spoken about Israel’s fear of arrest warrants for senior officials in the context of the war in Gaza. The officials told N12 [Mako’s broadcast channel] that the intention to issue such orders would not have been possible without American consent.”

The threat of arrest from the International Criminal Court is not hanging over the heads of minor officials only. “Last week,” Segal reports, “the Prime Minister’s Office held an urgent discussion on the issue, in which serious concerns were raised about allowing the issuance of arrest warrants against senior Israeli security and political leaders, including against Netanyahu himself.” This could all happen quickly: “Reports that have recently arrived in Jerusalem,” Segal continues, “indicate that the chance of issuing arrest warrants has increased dramatically, possibly as soon as next month.”

Segal noted that this was happening with American approval: “Regarding the intention to issue arrest warrants for senior Israelis, the sources at The Hague said that it is impossible that the chief prosecutor would have decided on such a dramatic step, in a war that is still ongoing, with very little evidence, if he had not at least had a ‘green light’ from the Americans. If this is true, this is another and unprecedented low in relations between Israel and the US, at a very sensitive time, on the eve of the ground entry to Rafah.”

Let's also remember Biden's "administration" refused to oppose a UN resolution against Israel a number of weeks ago, so this is no shock either. It's just another disgusting moment in a world that's eroding under political correctness and Orwellianism.

Update: foreign minister Yisrael Katz warns there'll be a wave of antisemitism if the ICC issues arrest warrants.

Update 2: Meir Ben-Shabbat makes clear the planned raid on Rafah must take place, even without the approval of the USA and the ICC.

Former Dutch premier who supported antisemitism and Hamas dies of euthanasia

Dries van Agt, one of the worst antisemitic politicians in the Netherlands, and his wife, have both died by ways of euthanasia:

Dries Van Agt, who served as prime minister of the Netherlands from 1977 to 1982, and whom Dutch watchdog groups condemned in recent years as an antisemite, chose to die last Monday with the assistance of a doctor, along with his wife. He was 93.

The double-euthanasia was announced on Sunday, by Van Agt’s organization Rights Forum, which he founded to oppose what the group calls “blind support for Israel” in the Netherlands’ public and political discourse.

[...] Van Agt made the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a major area of interest later in his life and was condemned on several occasions by Jewish and other organizations as an antisemite. Van Agt defended Hamas as well as individual terrorists several times.

In 2008, the former prime minister spoke at a rally featuring a televised address by a Hamas official. As a justice minister in the 1970s, Van Agt cited his "Aryan" roots in explaining his plan to pardon four Nazi war criminals due to health reasons.

In 2022, the former prime minister said that settlers in the West Bank had poisoned a three-year-old Palestinian girl, a charge that B'Tselem, the leading Israeli organization devoted to documenting alleged human rights violations, said it was not aware of. CIDI, the Netherlands' main antisemitism watchdog, called the accusation a blood libel. The Central Jewish Board of the Netherlands declared Van Agt an antisemite in 2017.

The Rights Forum, which Van Agt founded in 2009, lobbies Dutch politicians and representatives to challenge Israeli policy in the UN and International Criminal Court, alleging “violations of international law and human rights in Israel and Palestine,” and naming international law and human rights as its “explicit and consistent reference framework” as an organization. The group accuses Israel of “violat[ing] the fundamental rights of millions of Palestinians in often extremely violent ways, generation after generation.”

The organization has come under criticism from pro-Israel groups such as NGO Monitor, in particular for a pattern of rejecting allegations or definitions of antisemitism that the group deems politicized: in 2023, the group accused the Dutch ambassador to Israel of “going too far” when he called a shooting attack, in which a 21-year-old resident of East Jerusalem killed seven people and wounded two more, antisemitic.

Gee, if this man was going to go out of his way to condone blood libels and support terrorists, it's hard to feel sorry he decided to end his life as he did. But, he's made sure to leave behind a venomous legacy and movement that's carrying on his repulsive practices, and they're sure to cause only so much more damage for years to come.

TERRORIST ATTACK IN HOLLAND

The Jawa Report points to the following video (in Dutch) about a car that ran people over at a procession for the queen before crashing into a pedastal:

It's told on the news that four people are dead from being run over. The culprit is in custody, but no name has been given.

Update: Here's a report from the AP:

APELDOORN, Netherlands (AP) - A speeding car raced toward an open bus carrying Dutch Queen Beatrix and her family during a holiday parade Thursday and plowed into spectators, killing four people and injuring 13 others, authorities said.

Prosecutors said they believe the incident was deliberate, but not an act of terrorism. They did not indicate a motive or say why the popular queen might have been a target. The driver was a 38-year-old white Dutch male with no police record or history of mental illness, police said. They would not give his name.

Saying that he's white is not enough to give a description.

CAUSE FOR OUTRAGE INDEED: DUTCH COURT TO PROSECUTE GEERT WILDERS OVER FITNA

Truly atrocious. The Dutch court until now had wisely refrained from doing something so stupid. Now however, it appears they're going to capitulate to a campaign by Dutch Muslims to prosecute Geert Wilders for filming his anti-jihad film of Fitna (Hat tip: Jihad Watch).

This should not be allowed to pass without a fight. All those who value freedom should stand behind Wilders and make it clear to the Dutch government/courts that their planned actions are unacceptable.

GEERT WILDERS IN JERUSALEM

Geert Wilders, the brave Dutch politician who's an outspoken critic of Islam, was in Jerusalem just 2 days ago, and gave a whole speech presented at Andrew Bostom's site.

MANFRED GERSTENFELD'S BAD NEWS PROJECT

Dr. Madfred Gerstenfeld of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs was interviewed recently by Israel Insider and talks about how, in his view, Holland, and even a couple of other countries, are much darker than they seem. To do this, he began a blog called Bad News from the Netherlands. And since he began it, a few other, similar projects began, including Bad News from Britain, Bad News from Mexico, Bad News from Finland, and Bad News from Norway.

Now what does he tell about Holland for starters:

Q. What motivated you to start this blog?

A. For many years I had seen how many foreign journalists distort news about Israel in various ways. They take matters out of context, leave out essential information and blacken Israel. The same goes for other types of media and many Western politicians. As I am writing a book about the Netherlands, the Jews and Israel, the Dutch examples particularly struck me.

Q. Can you give some examples?

A. One concerns Conny Mus, the former chairman of the Foreign Press Association in Israel. In April of 2007, he was the first western TV journalist to interview Ismael Haniyah of the Hamas, who was then Prime Minister of the short-lived Hamas-Fatah government. Mus said on TV that he could ask whatever he wanted, yet he didn't raise the most relevant question: What about killing all the Jews as stated in the Hamas Charter?

Another example is Dutch Development Cooperation Minister Bert Koenders. In a recent press release on 3 million dollar emergency help for the Palestinians in Gaza, he blamed the area's economic problems on the closure of its border by Israel. He also lamented the wilting of flowers in Gaza which should have been exported to the Netherlands. Koenders' press release did not even mention the Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza.

Now I see just what's wrong with the Netherlands, and why they may on their way to disaster as well: when you discriminate against one country, it only makes sense that this discrimination will end up affecting your own country as well.

See all those blogs, with the one about Norway possibly being the most important, to see what they have.

NETHERLANDS SURPRISED THAT ISRAELIS ARE UPSET ABOUT DUTCH ANTI-ISRAEL BASHING, PRO-HAMAS ACTIVISM

Here's how deeply anti-Semitic anti-Zionist ideology has sunk into the pores of European sensibility: they don't even realize why the Jewish State would object to vicious anti-Israel attacks that are devoid of care or context. This isn't entirely their fault - the way Europeans talk about Israel is so surreal that they simply can't see when they're being unreasonable. They don't know when things are things. They're just too far gone, too deafened by their own echo chamber. And so these things happen:

The Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen will visit Israel on Monday, bringing the message to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that the Hague wishes to play a more central role in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Even before the minister's visit to the region began... 52 senior Dutch figures demanded on Saturday that their government recognize Hamas and "apply more pressure against Israel, to restore the international community's credibility."... The petition appeared in several daily papers, and featured signatures of many other opinion shapers from across the political board. "The government must help break the impasse. With the Arab League," the petition read. In addition, the document included an implicit demand that Holland recognize Hamas: "The Netherlands must engage in dialogue with all the relevant parties."

From the outside, it looks like the diplomatic equivalent of spitting in someone's face - it would absurd to expect anyone to listen to you after you've attacked them publicly. But to Europeans, this doesn't really seem like an overly vicious attack. Strutting around in righteous anti-Israel indignation is just something people do - a kind of particularly vicious and vindictive fashion statement that makes them one feel better about themselves. And it's not like anyone real gets hurt - it's just the Israelis. So it's totally natural for them not to consider Israelis' sensibilities when coordinating their diplomatic moves.

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]