Right, so Keir Starmer, is still very, very quiet on the small matter of those arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant by the International Criminal Court, though given Tory figures have hurriedly rushed to Israel’s side I’m surprised it’s taking him so long, he does love riding their coat-tails and copying them as much as possible.
The longer it takes for him to make a statement one way or the other on this though, the more political damage it does him. The public already can’t stand him, the must despised PM in British history at the 100 day mark as he is, so there’s little patience from the voters over this, but equally he doesn’t want to bite the pro Zionist donors hand that feed him either, owing everything he does to the Israel Lobby to be where he is today. Pressure from political progressives has come as well though, all adding up to a ticking time bomb waiting to go off if Starmer doesn’t pass comment shortly, but with some in the mainstream media also playing down this news on arrest warrants, perhaps he figures he can get with keeping his head down and it’ll all go away? Well we can’t let that happen can we?
Right, so that was Home Secretary Yvette Cooper dodging responsibility in relation to the issuing of arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity and she really has summed up the Starmer government response to this news right there, which is to say it’s not up to us, or rather refuse to say whether or not he would be arrested.
I’ve a shock for Yvette Cooper, because she is the Home Secretary, this is one of the great offices of state and her remit covers not just immigration, which seems to dominate her thinking at least, but national security, oversight of the security services and oh there’s one more thing isn’t there? Oh yes, law enforcement. That’s not just law enforcement in British law, that is law enforcement across England and Wales and that very much does include international legal obligations. It is your remit. Hiding behind respect for ICC investigations, you can hide behind acknowledgements of it’s independence, you can cite that they hardly ever affect us her in the UK, but all of that completely misses the point because if in the remote, slight chance Netanyahu came to Britain, we are obliged to arrest him as signatories of the Rome Statute, but more than that, we are legally obliged to enforce any said warrant in domestic law as well, and we actually have Tony Blair to thank for this for passing the International Criminal Court Act in 2001 as Middle East Eye explains:
‘In 2001, Tony Blair's Labour government passed the International Criminal Court Act, which enforces compliance with the court. This legally obliges the government to arrest Netanyahu if he sets foot on UK soil.
There is a domestic legal process through which Britain's independent courts determine whether or not to endorse the warrant in accordance with the 2001 act.
A host of lawyers and campaigners told Middle East Eye meeting the obligation to arrest was essential.
Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive, said: “In opposition the foreign secretary said in government his party would comply with any arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court, and we now need to see Mr Lammy and the whole UK government unequivocally backing this vitally important move by the ICC.
“The UK’s standing as a genuine supporter of the rule of law requires consistency and even-handedness - if war crimes are wrong when carried out by Russian forces in unlawfully-occupied Ukraine, then they’re equally wrong when carried out by Israeli forces in unlawfully-occupied Palestinian territory.
“In compliance with their international legal obligations, the UK authorities should be prepared to make swift arrests if Benjamin Netanyahu or Yoav Gallant step foot on British soil.”
Tayab Ali, director of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), said: "This is the most significant ruling in the history of international humanitarian law. The ICC just smashed Israel’s decades long impunity to pieces."’
The beauty of this piece of domestic legislation is that any potential attempt to subvert an ICC arrest warrant has a due process that still has to be gone through, whilst any appeal against it goes through, the arrested party must be held on remand. Any appeal on behalf of the government to allow them to let somebody go for example, must be made by the secretary of state and again, I hate to break it to Yvette Cooper, but that means her, and appealing to let someone like Netanyahu off via UK courts, well, the optics and public fallout of any such attempt would be astonishing to behold. The UK had basically better hope Netanyahu doesn’t decide to visit, because the only honest thing Cooper said, is that these matters hardly ever affect us. What does affect you though, is your denial that this is your job and the ongoing hand-wringing you’ve demonstrated, plus the silence of the Starmer government over these arrest warrants is sending public opinion, already low, into freefall once again.
Of course whilst Keir Starmer and David Lammy maintain their unforgivable silence on the matter of these arrest warrants though, others are certainly not and one of the most vocal opponents of this news from the Tory benches is Kemi Badenoch’s inexplicably resurrected to the post of shadow Foreign Secretary harridan Dame Priti Patel, who is absolutely not smirking over this news.
Patel of course was forced to resign from the post of International Development Minister, a foreign office role, under Theresa May’s government in 2017, having held 14 meetings with Israeli figures completely unofficially and off the books including allegedly, promising international development cash for Israeli forces in the occupied Golan Heights. The last thing, the last place she should be opining on is matters pertaining to Israel frankly, but as shadow Foreign Secretary now, it is literally her job and she’s come out squealing like a stuck pig over it. She’s said:
‘The decision by the ICC to issue arrest warrants for the democratically elected leader of Israel and Israel's former Defence Minister is deeply concerning and provocative. This will do nothing to bring about the release of all hostages held and the bringing of much-needed aid into Gaza. The focus of international diplomacy must be on securing a sustainable peace, a de-escalation of tensions in the region and an end to this conflict. In issuing these warrants, the ICC are drawing a moral equivalence with the actions of the terrorist leadership of Hamas, which it is wrong to do. The Conservative Government did not believe the ICC has jurisdiction in this area, as Israel is not a signatory to the Rome statute, and because Palestine is not recognised as a state. The Labour Government must condemn and challenge the ICC’s decision.’
Now Patel used to be Home Secretary, you’d think she’d know about the International Criminal Court Act, but apparently not, why should we be surprised by that though and as aforementioned, challenging the ICC decision in court is a poisoned chalice, doing so without Netanyahu even being here would be doubly stupid, therefore I wouldn’t actually put it past Starmer’s government, but the Tories would of course capitalise on any damage done to Labour in that respect.
Patel is also doubly stupid in her comment though, because by demanding a challenge to the court’s decision on the grounds of Netanyahu being democratically elected, it shows a belief that politicians are above the law. They’re not, and the fact Netanyahu is elected is irrelevant because the law is the law, it’s the Rule of Law, it’s called that for a reason because that’s the rules and they apply to all. Then there is the allegation that this is immoral, but morality has nothing to do with it, not with the law. Morality is a concern for politicians or society, it has no place in law, the law is based on facts and evidence, not feelings or notions of ethical and moral qualms. By all means they can shape the making of laws, but they are irrelevant where it comes to upholding them. Also, we are signatories of the Rome Statute, the ICC is a court who’s jurisdiction we recognise, so it is really stupid to advocate for a legal challenge to that.
So where both Labour and Tories compete to out stupid each other over Israel, other politicians are making much more sense.
Green Party leader Carla Denyer tweeted out:
‘The ICC arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant and Mohammed Deif make clear that to continue selling arms to Israel is to aid and abet war crimes. It is utterly indefensible. The Government must recognise that their approach to the war in Gaza has failed. They must consider far more direct measures to incentivise a ceasefire including an end to arms sales, the introduction of divestments, boycotts and sanctions, prosecutions for all those who have committed war crimes and a plan for a viable Palestinian state.’
She’s bang on and it highlights the real strife for Starmer and Co in light of these arrest warrants because now the continued sale of arms to the state, the continued aid and intelligence flights are all now evidence of aiding and abetting the charges Netanyahu faces at the ICC and continuing to do so means warrants are more likely to be issued against others continuing to do that, and that includes Starmer and Lammy, their past comments easily used to evidence such an action as I imagine they would. Starmer has advocated on camera for Israel to be able to commit war crimes and both he and Lammy have played down and dismissed notions and definitions of what counts as a genocide and actually the Rome Statute in Article 25 makes clear that those who aid and abet are as guilty, just as criminally liable as those committing the original crime. Without aid, munitions and intelligence supplied not just by the UK, but certainly are in part, the genocide Israel is conducting, the war crimes case against Netanyahu that has been built, would not have been possible, so it makes perfect sense.
Starmer’s silence is complicity. He’s been backed into a corner and the big shot barrister can’t see his way out right now. His next moves will be massively scrutinised, anything less than total agreement with the ICC and a promise to arrest Netanyahu if he comes to Britain, along with full cessation of arms sales and other British assistance which is aiding and abetting Netanyahu in his crimes will not do and the longer it takes for him to respond, the more political damage it does to him and he deserves every bit of it.
And the fact all of this has happened hot on the heels of Starmer’s grating defence of Israel blowing up in his face is even more deserved, as footage from 2014 where Starmer was giving evidence himself at the ICJ shows he knows exactly what a genocide is and his chosen words in that footage, if you were to swap Israel in for Serbia, just underlined it. Check out that footage in this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch and I’ll hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.