Afrasianet – Never  since its inception has the International Criminal Court been  so distorted and pressured as scandalous. All the cases brought before the court went on their normal course without much noise, and even when arrest warrants were issued against Putin, the head of a nuclear state, we heard no threats and much pressure.

The level of action in the Public Prosecutor's Office since the crimes were referred to the court in June 2014 has not risen to the level of crimes in quantity and quality compared to the speed of action in other files, especially in African countries and the Ukrainian file. However, these criticisms did not amount to distortion, threats or blackmail.

The secret of the fierce attack on the court was revealed by the current prosecutor Karim Khan in an interview with the American network "CNN", that the elected president of a Western country told him: "This court was created for Africa and for thugs like Putin, not against Western countries and their allies." They do not expect Israel to reach them or their protégé, and they have gone crazy since former Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced her official investigation into crimes committed in Palestine, and this madness increased after Khan's request. Arrest warrants issued for Netanyahu and Gallant.Khan's

statement about the alerts he received and the veiled threats they contained (believed to have been shortly after taking office) explains the reason for the stalemate in the Palestinian file; Khan knew the dangers he might face if he completed the work of the former prosecutor, so he gave up and ignored the file altogether, but the events of the seventh of October, the magnitude of the crimes being committed and the escalation of criticism against him forced him to act in the modest manner that we saw.

Today, events described as sudden and abnormal at the ICC are likely to undermine it: reports of a sexual harassment scandal involving Mr. Karim Khan and a female employee in his office have spread, which Karim Khan has categorically denied. The court also announced the replacement of Romanian Judge Julia Motoc, who presides over the Pre-Trial Chamber and hears Netanyahu's and Gallant's arrest warrants, with Slovenian Judge Betty Holler for undisclosed medical reasons.

Publishing the sex scandal, which was circulating at a critical time, regardless of its credibility, is not innocent at all; sources in the criminal court said that publishing it at this time is a punishment for the prosecutor who dared to submit a request to the Pre-Trial Chamber on May 20, 2024 to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Galant.

Media reports have said that the Israeli Mossad spy on the prosecutor general and employees and judges related to the Palestinian file and made threats against them. These reports revealed that former prosecutor Fatou Bensouda was directly threatened by former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen during a meeting between them, and personal recordings of Fatou's husband were leaked that embarrassed her in diplomatic circles.

The scandal that erupted today, in what many called "last-minute pre-minute arrest warrants", will not affect the judges of the Tribunal, although the publication of the scandal indirectly sends these judges an indirect message that you and your families are the next target if you approve the Prosecutor's request.

This makes us wonder: has this vicious crackdown on the judges of the Tribunal succeeded in pushing the Romanian judge to resign? Is the delay in issuing the decision for more than five months due to these pressures? So far, there is nothing to deny or confirm this, what the court suddenly announced that the reason for the replacement is health reasons, and the days will reveal what these health reasons are and whether they are a fact or a pretext? After the new composition of the Pre-Trial Chamber, will the issuance of pleadings be imminent?

We believe that the health reasons for Judge Motoc's resignation are unconvincing and an unprecedented pretext in all the cases before the Pre-Trial Chamber; Motoc worked for a long time in the Pre-Trial Chamber and suffered nothing, and her suffering suddenly emerged in this file, suggesting that there was pressure in which her country Romania was involved to thwart the formation of a possible majority approving arrest warrants.

This is reinforced by the fact that in February 2015, before joining the court, the new judge Holler published an article entitled "Palestine's Accession to the ICC: A Brief Analysis," in which she questions that Palestine is a state and argues that it has no known borders, that under the Oslo Accords, Palestine has no criminal jurisdiction over Israelis and therefore cannot refer crimes committed to the court, and that Israel has an independent and effective judiciary that therefore has priority in investigating crimes in accordance with the principle of complementarity.

Holler's article contains a lot of politics and little legal understanding and the reality that Palestinians live under occupation; the question that Palestine is not a state and has no borders was settled in a previous decision of the Court in February 2021, to the effect that the Court has no authority to consider this issue, as it is settled and specified in United Nations resolutions. Palestine is a state within the borders of the fourth of June, and this was confirmed in the opinion The recent advisory to the International Court of Justice, who considered that occupation itself has become a crime that must end, which was endorsed by the General Assembly in its recent resolution.

With regard to the Oslo Accords and the fact that Palestine could not refer crimes to the Court, the Court partially responded in its previous decision, considering that this violated the rules of international humanitarian law and a peremptory rule of international law stipulating the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.

As for the fact that Israel has an effective judiciary that can investigate the crimes committed and must be given a chance in accordance with the principle of complementarity, this is a departure from reality; as of the time Holler wrote her article, Israel had waged three wars in Gaza, killing thousands of civilians, destroying entire areas, displacing thousands, and we have not heard of any serious investigation. Rather, throughout decades of occupation, the judiciary has been and continues to be a tool in the hands of the occupation to legitimize settlements, killings, torture and displacement.

Today, nine years after Holler's article, the question of complementarity and whether Palestine can refer crimes to the court is before the recently constituted Pre-Trial Chamber in which Holler was a member; Or has she become more aware and experienced after many years of working in court, making her understand that the law and the available evidence confirm that there is no place? The principle of complementarity, given that Israel is a rogue state as a whole, necessitates faster action to issue arrest warrants not only against Netanyahu and Gallant, but also against thousands of officials, officers and soldiers.

Concern about the fate of arrest warrants is legitimate after all this chaos, we do not know how the majority in court will form for or against. The French President of the Pre-Trial Chamber, Nicolas Guillot, has no previous opinion on the case at hand; will he follow his biography of being "experienced, having served before his election as a judge at the Special Criminal Tribunal for Kosovo for four years and at the Special Tribunal in Lebanon" or will he follow the history of his country supporting Israel?!

Israel has waged three wars against Gaza, killing thousands of civilians, destroying entire areas, and displacing thousands, and we have heard of no serious investigation. Rather, throughout decades of occupation, the judiciary has been and continues to be a tool in the hands of the occupation to legitimize settlements, killings, torture and displacement.

Judge Ren Alabeni Ganso, who holds the nationality of the African country of Benin, was among the judges who ruled in February 2021 that the Court does not have the authority to consider the decision of the Assembly of States Parties to Palestine's accession to the Rome Convention, and therefore Palestine is a state, and the Court's territorial jurisdiction extends to all Palestinian territories known to the United Nations.

Any decision to block the issuance of arrest warrants would deal a severe blow to the court and confirm what the Western official said that the court was designed for Africa and to prosecute some "thugs." This could lead to a mass withdrawal by States parties, especially African ones, threatening the collapse of the court.

At the moment, there is broad support for the work of ICC officials, including states, organizations and jurists, as they are not alone in facing the Israeli. On 08/10/2024, the Guardian newspaper reported that prosecutors in  the Netherlands are  considering a complaint filed by Palestinian victims and American activists against the head of the Mossad and American politicians who threatened the prosecutor and his employees.

Prosecutors in the Netherlands are obliged to initiate serious investigations based on the hosting agreement between the Dutch government and the court, article 43 of which stipulates the obligation of the Dutch authorities to protect staff and headquarters against any threat.

In addition, the Rome Accord has become part of Dutch national law and obliges prosecutors to institute public proceedings under article 70 against anyone who attempts to obstruct justice before the court. This applies to all States parties, especially European States, that have made the Rome Agreement part of their national criminal law.

Finally, in light of the frenzied campaign, it was the duty of the ICC Office of the Prosecutor to activate Article 70 of the Rome Statute to prosecute all persons of any nationality who spied and threatened the Court's staff, including the Prosecutor himself. But the inaction of the Office of the Prosecutor and the lack of effective action led to the serious events plaguing the Court today.

It is worth noting that  the International Criminal Court approved the request to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in just 24 days, while it has not decided for more than 5 months on the request for an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Galant.

Israel and its allies are putting sticks in the wheels of the office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan, to dissuade the court from issuing an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, Galant and three Hamas leaders.

On May 20, Khan requested  the issuance of arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galant for their responsibility for "war crimes and crimes against humanity" committed by the Israeli occupation army in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

Khan also again asked the ICC in August to expeditiously issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galant.

With US support, since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging  a genocidal war on Gaza that has left more than 144,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children and the elderly.

Tel Aviv continues the genocide in Gaza, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution to stop it immediately, and the orders of the International Court of Justice to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the dire humanitarian situation in the Strip.

The ICC failed for years to complete its investigation into the question of Palestine, and was subjected to espionage and surveillance activities by the Israeli intelligence Mossad for 9 years.

 Craig Moukheiber, former director of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in New York, said in a statement on his X account: "In the face of the ongoing pressure campaign from Israel and the West, it is remarkable that Judge Motoc, who presided over the Netanyahu/Galant cases, abruptly withdrew for unspecified health reasons and was replaced by Judge Hoehler."

Moukheiber stated that before Judge Hoehler joined the ICC, "he said that Israeli officials should be tried in Israeli domestic courts, not in the ICC, because Israel has a generally respected Supreme Court and a well-functioning legal system."

Moukheiber continued: "Expect more delays and more procrastination."

The difference between Ukrainian and Palestinian investigations

Given the ICC's progress  in the Ukrainian investigation and the arrest warrants it issued against six Russian officials, including Putin, on March 17, 2023, it seems that the delay in the Israeli investigation is not considered normal.

Similarly, while Muammar Gaddafi was arrested in Libya in June 2011, just three months after the Security Council requested, it is noteworthy that despite the crimes in Gaza, no arrest request has been accepted and no judicial case has been opened against any Israelis since 2019.

It is clear that delays in investigating any case related to Palestine continue systematically for many years.

On 16 January 2015, former ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced the start of a preliminary investigation into the situation in Palestine.

Despite announcing in December 2019 that the necessary criteria for the investigation had been met, Bensouda sought the opinion of the Pre-Trial Chamber to demarcate the Palestinian territories and in which of them the court could hear the crimes committed therein.

With the involvement of several ICC states and civil society organizations in expressing an opinion, which took nearly two years, the preliminary investigation was completed, and the Prosecutor officially announced on 3 March 2021, the start of an investigation into the situation in Palestine.

US threats to punish ICC

Another factor influencing the ICC investigation process is the direct threats and pressure exerted by the United States on the court.

U.S. senators have warned against imposing sanctions on ICC officials if an arrest warrant is issued for Israeli officials.

The threats are not the first in the history of the ICC, as the United States has barred former prosecutor Bensouda and her deputies from entering the country and frozen their assets while conducting investigations into Afghanistan.

Israeli pressure on the court

International media reported that Yossi Cohen, the former head of Israel's Mossad, held secret meetings with the former ICC prosecutor before the start of the investigation against Israel and threatened to dissuade her from doing so.

According to the British newspaper The Guardian, Bensouda launched an investigation in 2021 on the grounds that Israel had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Palestinian territories.