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Netanyahu, the ICC and the new world disorder

By issuing an arrest warrant for the Israeli PM, the International Criminal Court now faces a threat to its survival.

Netanyahu, the ICC & the new world disorder

By Danylo Hawaleshka

History Illustrated is a series of perspectives that puts news events and current affairs into historical context using graphics generated with artificial intelligence.

Netanyahu, the ICC & the new world disorder — On November 21, 2024, the International Criminal Court made history, issuing an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in Gaza, the first time that’s happened to a leader backed by the West.

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Netanyahu, the ICC & the new world disorder — But many in the West condemned the court for attacking “Israel’s right to defend itself”. And they even argued Netanyahu enjoys immunity as a state leader, despite ICC precedents to the contrary. While most of the EU backed the ICC, the US did not, nor did France and Italy, creating a rift that some say threatens the very existence of the ICC, and with it, people’s safety around the world.

Netanyahu, the ICC & the new world disorder — The Nuremberg Trials, beginning in 1945, and the Tokyo Trial a year later, were the first to hold individuals, not just states, responsible for violating international law.

Netanyahu, the ICC & the new world disorder — Building on that momentum, the UN General Assembly, on December 11, 1946, unanimously adopted Resolution 95 (I), recognising the principles of international law as laid out at Nuremberg.

Netanyahu, the ICC & the new world disorder — But the appetite for justice on the world stage would fade in the chill of the Cold War, and the ensuing deadlock at the UN Security Council.

Netanyahu, the ICC & the new world disorder — Not until the end of the Cold War, and the horror of the genocide in the former Yugoslavia, and also in Rwanda, did the UN Security Council create new international criminal tribunals - the first since Nuremberg - to try those crimes, in 1993 and 1994, respectively.

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Netanyahu, the ICC & the new world disorder — Then, in 1998, a conference convened by the UN adopted the Rome Statute, which created the International Criminal Court. About 40 countries, including the US and Israel, are not parties to the statute. Today, the ICC prosecutes individuals, not states. And the court does not consider heads of state immune, a principle adopted from Nuremberg.

Netanyahu, the ICC & the new world disorder — The rift between Western allies over the arrest warrant for Netanyahu will only widen if US President-elect Donald Trump acts on threats by his advisers to impose sanctions on the ICC. With the ICC hobbled, and the international legal order that it represents along with it, what will that mean for leaders who act with impunity?

Netanyahu, the ICC & the new world disorder — Estimates suggest almost 170 million civilians have been subjected to genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the past century. It’s been argued that not being able to hold individuals legally accountable for their atrocities risks only adding to that grisly total.