The South African Zionist Federation wholly condemns the baseless, flawed and shameful warrants of arrest issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Israeli Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant earlier today.
“This is the first time the ICC has targeted leaders of a Western democratic state, creating a dangerous precedent for when other sovereign countries may come under attack by an adversary in the near future and would require taking the necessary military steps to defend themselves”, commented Rolene Marks, national spokesperson for the SAZF.
The warrants, which have been spearheaded by prosecutor Karim Khan, known for his hostility against Israel alongside his panel of anti-Israel advisors, is also currently facing serious allegations of sexual assault.
The warrants demonstrate critical jurisdictional and procedural flaws. Israel is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, placing it outside ICC jurisdiction per Article 12 of the Statute. The warrants contravene established UN Charter Article 51 principles on sovereign self-defense rights.
The warrants ignore critical distinctions between a sovereign state’s legitimate self-defense actions and premeditated terrorist attacks targeting civilians. They fail to acknowledge the fundamental difference between military operations conducted with civilian protection protocols and the deliberate exploitation of civilian infrastructure for military purposes. This false equivalence undermines the core principles of international humanitarian law and disregards the established legal framework that distinguishes between lawful military operations and terrorist acts.
These acts represent a concerning departure from established international legal principles and precedents. It has transformed the ICC from an instrument of justice into a political tool, severely compromising its ability to address genuine violations of international law.
Marks added that “the warrants remain a mockery of international law, and only seek to punish Israeli leaders for taking the necessary steps to defend their country and its citizens from multiple hostile players in the region that have made the destruction of Israel and the eradication of the Jewish people central to their existence. “
“The facts are simple; Israel came under attack by the bloodthirsty terrorist group, Hamas, on October 7th 2023, when they not only invaded Israel’s sovereignty by murdering innocent Israeli civilians in their own homes, but also abducted hundreds of Israelis, taking them back into the Gaza Strip.”
To this day, over 100 of these hostages have still not been returned, giving Israel every right to continue in its military offensive to rescue their fellow citizens. The warrants are nothing less than slanderous, outrageous and appalling, as they target the world’s only Jewish state for acting in self-defence against its enemies who wish to inflict a genocide on the Jewish people.
It is laughable that the ICC attempts to make a false moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas, by also issuing a warrant for Hamas’ Mohammed Deif (the mastermind behind the October 7th attacks), who is already dead and cannot answer for his heinous crimes.
“The widespread campaign against the Jewish people’s right to exist continues to play out in plain sight. History will look very unkindly upon those who fail to stand up for a people that have suffered violent and bloody persecution since the beginning of humankind,”, Marks concluded.
