SATISH SHARMA - not just Rotigraphy.: Like gangsters, Israel and the US are sending a very direct message to each of the ICJ judges: you will be punished too, if you dare to find us guilty.

https://x.com/Jonathan_K_Cook/status/2008593808162746776

The International Criminal Court's judges approved the arrest warrants of Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in November 2024 after the court’s prosecutors amassed evidence of crimes against humanity committed by the pair, chiefly over their imposition of an aid blockade to starve Gaza’s population. It is no surprise, therefore, that the Trump administration has issued sanctions against eight judges at the Hague war crimes court, either for approving those arrest warrants or for authorising an investigation into crimes by US military personnel in Afghanistan. In an executive order announcing the sanctions in February, Trump declared a “national emergency”, saying the court represented an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States”. You might imagine that this lawless move against some of the most renowned jurists in the world would have provoked considerable pushback in Europe. You would be wrong. The all-out assault on one of the main pillars of international law has been barely mentioned. Le Monde broke ranks in November to interview French judge Nicolas Guillou. He detailed the impact since he was sanctioned in August: “All my accounts with American companies, such as Amazon, Airbnb, PayPal and others, have been closed... Being under sanctions is like being sent back to the 1990s.” European banks, fearful of the US Treasury, also closed his accounts, and European companies refuse to provide him with services. He concluded: “Putting someone under sanctions creates a state of permanent anxiety and powerlessness, with the intent of discouragement.” Washington has sanctioned too the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, and two of his deputies. In fact, Khan, a British lawyer, has found himself embroiled in a protracted legal and reputational struggle ever since he submitted the applications in May 2024. That included threats, reported by Middle East Eye, from the then UK foreign secretary David Cameron that Britain would defund the court and withdraw from the Rome Statute that founded the ICC if Khan did not back down. Clearly, Israel and the US are eager to intimidate the court, and ready to destroy it rather than be judged by international law standards and held accountable for their crimes. But the sanctions have an additional audience: the International Court of Justice, sometimes referred to as the World Court. Its panel of 15 judges have issued a series of rulings over the past two years against Israel. Most explosively, the ICJ ruled in January 2024 that a “plausible” case had been made that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. As a result, the ICJ is currently investigating Israel for this, the ultimate crime. The wheels of justice turn slowly at the World Court. But its judges are undoubtedly watching the treatment of Albanese and the ICC with alarm. Like gangsters, Israel and the US are sending a very direct message to each of the ICJ judges: you will be punished too, if you dare to find us guilty. This is an extract from my latest article From Gaza to Venezuela, the US has been unmasked as the serial villain. Find a link to the article in the reply post below