This is not about moral equivalence, but seeking arrest warrants for both Hamas and Israeli leaders is an attempt to impose equal justice.
We live in a world where international politicians and diplomats cannot stop the wanton killing of children and innocent civilians – in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and many other places. The United Nations is useless, its Security Council broken by the superpower veto wielded by Russia and America.prosecutor in seeking arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli leaders. That class does not include Australia’s Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton, who describes the action as “abominable” and “antisemitic”.
There can be no objection to the warrants for the Hamas leaders. My only criticism is that they are sought too late. Nonetheless, if they are apprehended, sending them to The Hague for trial has advantages over shooting them on sight or prosecuting them in Israel: their crimes of mass murder and hostage taking will be described and condemned by independent and impartial judges, and they will be sentenced to life imprisonment.
It was my war crimes court in Sierra Leone in 2010 that endorsed the equal justice principle by allowing the prosecutor to proceed not only against barbarous rebel commanders but against the quite heroic defence minister who had fought them off – with the help, unfortunately, of child soldiers. He turned up to take his trial and it is to be hoped that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will follow this lead.Of course, this may not be necessary as the court may not grant the warrant.
The accusation of indiscriminate bombing, which by now has killed more civilians in Gaza than the 25,000 who died at Dresden, is more significant because this is not a war crime as such but requires the court to decide whether the deaths and injuries it has caused are “clearly excessive” in relation to the military advantage achieved by the slaughter. This has been kept vague because of British embarrassment over Dresden and American defensiveness over the Tokyo firebombing.
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