Editor's note: Peter Bergen is a national security analyst at CNN, vice president of New America, professor of practice at Arizona State University, and the Audible podcast “In the Room With Peter Bergen,” also on Apple and Spotify. is also the host of The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinions on CNN.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also on the brink of a rogue gallery that includes late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as prosecutors at the International Criminal Court seek an arrest warrant for him. More may be added soon.
The ICC is a criminal court that prosecutes individuals, similar to the Nuremberg trials after World War II. The ICC, established in 2002, has only convicted 10 people of war crimes. The wheels of justice at the ICC are slowly but surely honed.
The move to indict Prime Minister Netanyahu could dramatically change the course of the war in Gaza.
This development is far more important to Prime Minister Netanyahu personally than the genocide allegations against Israel in a lawsuit filed by South Africa in December at the International Court of Justice, which hears cases against countries.
The court's interim judgment ruled that Palestinians had a “plausible” right to protection from genocide, Joan Donoghue, then president of the ICJ, told the BBC at the time of the decision. Israel strongly denies committing genocide in Gaza in the ongoing incident.
Abil Sultan/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
If the International Criminal Court approves the arrest warrant, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would effectively become an outcast unable to travel to most countries.
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that the court's charges against Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant include “causing extermination as a means of war, including denying humanitarian relief supplies; These include causing famine and intentionally targeting civilians in conflict.” In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced Khan as one of the “great anti-Semites of our time.”
The ICC has also requested arrest warrants for three top Hamas leaders, but the reality is that this has major implications for the Islamist group, which is already designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and many other countries, including both countries. I don't think that will happen. A member state of the European Union.
Meanwhile, Yahya Sinwar, one of the Hamas leaders accused by Israel of masterminding the October 7 attack on the Jewish state, is believed to be hiding in underground tunnels in Gaza.
There are 124 countries that have signed the ICC, but this does not include the United States and Israel. If the court issues an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, these 124 countries will be obligated to arrest him. A panel of ICC judges will decide on the application for a warrant for Mr Khan's arrest.
Many of Israel's closest allies, such as Britain and Germany, are parties to the ICC and would be bound by the court's decision if a warrant is issued. That would greatly complicate relations with Prime Minister Netanyahu, as he would effectively become an international pariah who would be unable to travel to most countries. France and Belgium have already issued statements supporting the ICC's request for an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
If approved, the arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu would threaten Israel, a sovereign state acting in self-defense, with Hamas, the terrorist group that incited the war in October, even though it has led to the deaths of thousands of Palestinians. It would put them in the same position. Approximately 1,200 people were killed in seven attacks on Israel.
In the United States, there was a predictable backlash against the ICC's move to issue an arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was furious, saying, “The ICC has only succeeded in further discrediting itself as a corrupt kangaroo court with no connection to morality or justice.'' US President Joe Biden called the request for an arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu “outrageous.” ”
But you can't have it both ways. When the ICC and its chief prosecutor, Khan, issued an arrest warrant for Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine in 2023, there were hosannas on both sides of the aisle.
Biden declared that the ICC arrest warrant against Putin “makes a very strong case,” adding: “He clearly committed a war crime.” South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham praised the court's decision, saying, “The ICC's decision to issue an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin is a major step in the right direction for the international community.” That is more than justified by the evidence. ”
One effect of the possible arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu is that Israelis may become more aware of what is happening in Gaza. Thanks to the self-censorship practiced by Israeli media, Israelis see the war being waged in Gaza quite differently than the rest of the world sees it. The Wall Street Journal reported this month that Israeli media rarely air footage of the mass destruction in Gaza or the thousands of civilian casualties.
The possibility of ICC arrest warrants for both Israeli and Hamas leaders could also complicate the already tricky task of negotiating a ceasefire and the return of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
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I'm attending the Global Security Forum, a security conference in Qatar. As is well known, Qatar is working with the United States, Israel, and the Qatar-based Hamas political leadership to release more than 100 hostages still held captive in Gaza, including eight Americans, and bodies in Gaza. played an important intermediary role between About 30 more.
The consensus among conference delegates, including security experts from around the world, is that those talks have largely stalled.
The ICC's move to seek an arrest warrant for Netanyahu may only harden his resolve to continue the war in Gaza seemingly indefinitely. In an address to the nation on Monday, Netanyahu said, in a translation of his remarks by The Times of Israel, that the ICC would not prevent Israel from achieving a “total victory” over Hamas.
