WHO’S AFRAID OF THE ICC?
January 5, 2015
The Palestinian Authority has
gone ahead and formally applied for membership in the International Criminal
Court. They seek prosecution of Israelis
responsible for the thousands of Palestinians killed in the latest Israeli
invasion of Gaza, fed by uninterrupted U.S. military supply. In retaliation, Israel has blocked payments
for Palestinian civil service workers.
The PA has also failed to defer to US UN Ambassador Powers’ advice that its
filing would be “counterproductive.” A
point is being made that Israel does not subscribe to the Rome Treaty creating
the Court.
The US does not subscribe to the
treaty either. In the Obama years, it
has “cooperated” (that is, played informant) in selected ICC prosecutions, as
of members of the Lord’s Resistance Army.
The US government takes upon itself supreme power to decide whether its
fighting forces will suffer legal consequences for crimes other than those they
impose themselves. In defending Israel’s
position, “we” are reaffirming our own. The
US is above the international law of criminality. The irony of President Obama’s posture of
being the world’s supreme guarantor of law and order is that we above all
others hold ourselves above the law. The
irony cannot be lost on the international community, including those “we”
continue to turn into enemies.
And as to recent conversation on the devaluation of black and brown lives
on our city streets, what applies to US at home applies to US abroad. Love and peace, hal
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