In a massive fuck you to the International Criminal Court. Benjamin Netanyahu has decided that instead of reining in his genocidal troops, he would rather invade Jenin - both the city and the refugee camp. What is it with Zionists and refugee camps?
Jenin, in case you’re unclear, is located in the West Bank where Hamas is not in charge. In other words, this is not about “rescuing the hostages” or “defeating Hamas”, it’s simply about slaughtering Palestinians.
Israel sent in 1,500 soldiers with tanks, jeeps and bulldozers to cause mindless destruction while settlers reportedly burned down houses with families inside. IDF vehicles were filmed blocking off a Red Crescent ambulance, and ambulances were shot at, presumably due to the concern they were going to rescue injured people.
Bulldozers have been demolishing homes, crushing cars, digging up roads and destroying roundabouts. I’m unclear if there was a secret Hamas megabase under one of those roundabouts, but the parked vehicles must have been up to no good. The only other possibility is that this was destruction for destruction’s sake.
Seven civilians were killed during indiscriminate fire in Jenin refugee camp, including a teacher, surgeon and two children. One of the children was heading to school and the doctor was heading to the hospital. If you’re a Palestinian doctor you cannot risk looking like one in public, you have to wear civilian clothes for your own safety. If you’re a child, you cannot expect to be shown mercy, you are just as likely to be targeted as an adult. There is nothing you can do to guarantee your safety. An IDF soldier can decide to kill you at any time and for no reason.
These killings are war crimes and when your soldiers commit war crimes, your leaders are supposed to condemn them and take action to prevent further war crimes. Lack of condemnation is considered evidence of culpability. This is important because it means Israel’s leaders cannot accuse rogue soldiers to distance themselves from the crimes.
Israel has killed over 500 civilians in the West Bank since October 7th while all eyes are on Gaza. It appears that Israel has made the calculation that if it’s going to be a Pariah state, it might as well go all out with its goal of “total occupation” and the establishment of a “Greater Israel”. If your leaders are going to be confined to their ethnostate, no matter what they do, they might as well do exactly what they want to do.
While some discuss the possibility of Netanyahu being overthrown by his own people, it would be foolish to think he would be replaced with something better. There is no “better” in Israeli politics, only lots of politicians with different views on how to steal Palestinian land.
Any serious pretence of Israeli innocence is now dead. Netanyahu has threatened Karim Khan KC on television, saying he’s not concerned about travelling but the ICC prosecutor should be concerned, hinting at the death of the Iranian president in a helicopter crash. Netanyahu accused Khan of turning the ICC into a “Pariah institution”, said the court is being “politicised” and people are not going to take it seriously. What decent people don’t take seriously is the idea of Israeli impunity. The only ones politicising the situation are Netanyahu and their accomplices.
Innocent people don’t threaten judges, they comply with due process and present the evidence of their innocence. By reacting the way he has, Netanyahu is going mask off. He knows the world knows he is guilty and is acting like a mob boss because it’s his only option - and he knows AIPAC’s puppets in the US will back him all the way.
Reptilian Senator Ted Cruz and other US lizards recently wrote a letter threatening the ICC which ominously ended with the words: “You have been warned”. Senator Tom Cotton went as far as to threaten the families of the ICC judges. They keep saying the ICC has no jurisdiction, but that’s not their call to make and they’re wrong.
The senators told the ICC: “Target Israel and we will target you,” which is in itself a violation of international law. So much for the “international rules-based order”, eh?