“What chutzpah do you dare compare the monsters of Hamas to the soldiers of the IDF, the most moral army in the world?” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lamented as the International Criminal Court moves forward to seek warrants of arrest against him and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The ICC accuses Netanyahu and Israel’s defense minister of war crimes over their counter-offensives on Hamas terrorists after its unprovoked attack last year.
Netanyahu and Gallant are treated equally to the terrorist leaders of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, and its two other top officials, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh.
Among the crimes accused on Israel were “willful killing,” “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare,” and “willfully causing great suffering.”
The court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan wrote in his statement last Monday, “My office submits that the war crimes alleged in these applications were committed in the context of an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a non-international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas (together with other Palestinian Armed Groups) running in parallel.”
Khan further said he witnessed the “devastating scenes, and the profound impact of the unconscionable crimes” on October 7.
“Speaking with survivors, I heard how the love within a family, the deepest bonds between a parent and a child, were contorted to inflict unfathomable pain through calculated cruelty and extreme callousness. These acts demand accountability,” he said.
“My office submits that the war crimes alleged in these applications were committed in the context of an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a non-international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas (together with other Palestinian Armed Groups) running in parallel,” said Khan.
The Israeli Prime Minister expressed outrage on equating the Israel Defense Force with the terrorists and described it as “an utter distortion of reality,” and called the attacks an example of “the new antisemitism” which originated in US universities, and reached the Hague.
“With what audacity do you compare between the Hamas that murdered, burned, butchered, raped, and kidnapped our brothers and sisters, and the IDF soldiers who are fighting a just war that is unparalleled, with a morality that is unmatched?” Netanyahu remarked.
As the ICC builds its case, the organization tapped Lebanese-British Amal Clooney to join the panel that will explore legal basis to pursue lawsuits against Netanyahu, Gallant, and Hamas terrorists.
Warrants have not been released yet, but the chief prosecutor emphasized that he will demand them from the ICC.
