In the Trends Journal’s 9 February article, “ICC TO PROBE ISRAELI WAR CRIMES,” we reported on the International Criminal Court’s decision to investigate allegations of war crimes against Israel for its role in the 2014 Gaza War, otherwise known as “Operation Protective Edge.”
Israel quickly called the move politically motivated with no legal standing, and the Biden administration agreed.
Last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement declaring the U.S. “firmly opposes” the case and blasted the court for unfairly targeting Israel.
Blinken said in a statement Wednesday that the U.S. is “disappointed” by the ICC’s decision:
“The ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter… Israel is not a party to the ICC and has not consented to the Court’s jurisdiction, and we have serious concerns about the ICC’s attempts to exercise its jurisdiction over Israeli personnel.”
Palestinians at the time praised the ICC for opening up the investigation.
In 2015, a U.N. investigation found that both Israeli and Palestinian militants could have committed war crimes during the conflict, the BBC reported. The fight lasted for 50 days and ended in a truce, the report said. But the deal was reached after 2,251 Palestinians were killed, including 1,462 civilians. Israel suffered the deaths of 67 soldiers and six civilians.
Last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the investigation proves the body cares little about the law and is simply a political body:
“The court ignores real war crimes and instead persecutes the state of Israel, a state with a firm Democratic regime, which sanctifies the rule of law, and is not a member of the court.”
TREND FORECAST: As with the Trump and previous American administrations, Israel will continue to receive special treatment status regardless of their violations of international law, such as the taking of Palestinian land under the name of “settlements.”
Indeed, just before Biden was sworn into office, in violation of international law, the Israeli government approved 2,600 housing units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
TRENDPOST: Israel took control of the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 war.
Under international law, Israeli settlements are illegal. They violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 that states, “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”
The U.N. Security Council, the U.N. General Assembly, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Court of Justice, and the High Contracting Parties to the Convention have all affirmed the Fourth Geneva Convention applies, that this is occupied territory, and Israeli settlements there are illegal.
TREND FORECAST: In May 2018, in violation of international law, President Trump moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and he proclaimed Israel has the right to take control of Syria’s Golan Heights, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 war.
Thus, as evidenced by the recent statement from America’s new Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, the Biden administration will continue to support Israel’s decisions regardless of their illegality.
Moreover, should tensions escalate in the region, as we forecast, right or wrong, the Biden administration, as with past ones, will support Israel.
