The state of Palestine today becomes a member of the International Criminal Court. This has a practical significance beyond the additional political pressure it piles on Israel. It means that in future Israelis will be liable to the jurisdiction of the court for crimes committed on Palestinian territory, despite Israel’s refusal to sign up to the court along with that other international rogue state, the United States of America.
In the case of the murders on the Mavi Marmara, the Court ruled that the scale of the incident did not reach the bar required for the Court’s jurisdiction – that it does not try war crimes which are individual acts. However it will be impossible to argue that at the next mass Israeli killing in Gaza, or even at the next large scale seizure of territory for Israeli settlements.
One of the many disgraces of neo-con government in the UK is the existence of legislation passed by the UK parliament specifically to allow Israeli war criminals to visit the UK without fear of arrest. That however will be overridden by Britain’s obligation to detain and hand over persons indicted by the International Criminal Court. Today’s apparently small step could change the atmosphere for the arrogant Israeli elite in a fundamental way. They will no longer be able to massacre hundreds of Palestinian women and children whenever they feel it boosts their cause, without some concern about personal consequences.
With the prospect of a deal bringing Iran back into the international community also appearing bright, we can be allowed a rare moment of optimism.
rubbish
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US Human Rights lawyer, Michael Ratner, offers a sober assessment of Palestine’s joining the ICC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxwL3wu2ipc
The interview is from a few month’s ago, before today’s accession.
The following article states that ICC jurisdiction has been backdated to before Israel’s slaughter in the summer of 2014:
“ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda can probe crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank since June 2014 – a jurisdiction that was backdated to before Israel’s attack on Gaza last July and August.”
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/analysis-palestine-icc-entry-diplomatic-milestone-1175734661
As the anon above implies, criticism of Israel is no longer permissible in the UK:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/mar/31/southampton-university-cancels-event-questioning-israel-existence
‘Arrogant Israeli elite’ is obviously bang out of order, offensive and deeply antisemitic.
“Palestinians plan to lodge their first complaint against Israel at the International Criminal Court over its war crimes. Senior Palestinian official Mohammed Shtayyeh says the complaint will be filed at the ICC on April the first. It will contain Israeli crimes against Palestinians during its summer war on Gaza as well as its settlement activities in the occupied territories.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJj-PNa917Q
Above report from a few weeks ago.
Has this complaint been filed?
The organiser of this letter which takes up nearly all of the front page of the Torygraph is Andrew Feldman. He is a Tory donor, Tory peer and a leading light in the British Jewish lobby for Israel.
Bosses sign letter supporting Tories
More than 100 company leaders declare support for a Conservative-led government as Labour pledges to end “exploitative” zero-hours contracts.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32141412
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Feldman,_Baron_Feldman_of_Elstree
‘More recently, Tory sources say that the CFI played an influential role in stiffening the Conservative Party’s opposition to the UN resolution based on the Goldstone Report into the Israeli attack on Gaza. According to our sources, Hague was persuaded to sit down with David Cameron and Andrew Feldman, an influential supporter of the CFI, and produced the following quotation for the CFI newsletter setting out their opposition to the resolution: “Unless the draft resolution is redrafted to reflect the role that Hamas played in starting the conflict, we would recommend that the British Government vote to reject the resolution.” Hague had decided to take the American line of rejecting the UN resolution, unlike the Labour government, which, in effect, abstained.’
Peter Oborne
13 Nov 2009
https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/peter-oborne-james-jones/pro-israel-lobby-in-britain-full-text
“With the prospect of a deal bringing Iran back into the international community also appearing bright, we can be allowed a rare moment of optimism.”
As I pointed out on another thread. Lifting of sanctions on Iran would bring another million barrels of oil a day onto western markets which are already over supplied.
Not good news for Scotland.
http://www.jewishnews.co.uk/israeli-ambassador-visit-scotland-victory-free-speech/
Just as well no-one there questioned the legitimacy of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, obviously. Free speech has a very sharp boundary in that region.
Tartan charm offensive – someone’s noticed that the SNPFoI’s a bit undersubscribed –
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/17796-israel-launches-tartan-charm-offensive-in-enemy-territory
The rise of the SNP is certainly a concern to the people in power in Israel, especially those who could once rely on old friends like Tony Blair and Gordon Brown for support. However, with Blair’s already doubtful credibility hanging in the balance and Brown stepping down as a Member of Parliament neither can exert the sort of influence needed by the pro-Israel lobby. Both remain patrons of the Jewish National Fund, though, which buys land in occupied Palestine for use solely by Jews; even outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron sought to distance himself from the JNF by quitting as a patron in 2011.
The arrival of a full time Israeli diplomat in Scotland has been greeted with scorn by several pro-justice groups, including the vocal Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign. The SPSC’s founder and former chair Mick Napier commented: “Pro Israel activists in Scotland have tried bullying and intimidation to roll back the rising commitment to Palestinian freedom. It didn’t work with the Church of Scotland which remains committed to supporting the Palestinian right of return and opposing Christian Zionism and it didn’t work with the Scottish Trade Union Congress, which supports a full boycott of Israel.”
According to Napier, Ishmael Khaldi will claim to represent proof that Israel is not an apartheid state. “However, a country whose biggest city [Glasgow] has Mandela Place in the city centre knows very well that the South African apartheid regime was able to co-opt black figures into co-operating with the regime and had some fighting against the liberation struggle.”
Khaldi, continued the veteran campaigner, is a “highly paid stooge”, whose posting to Scotland follows an Israeli diplomat’s lament that any official representative of Israel in Scotland will be there because the country is regarded as “enemy territory”.
Not good news for Scotland.
Great news for people off bus routes in remote areas though.
Should boost Irn Bru sales in Tehran, too.
This interview with Sen George Mitchell encapsulates both US rapprochement with Iran and progress on the two-state solution.
Both issues are presented as distancing US policy from that of Israel, something that has seemingly become more prominent over the past year or so.
These divisions are of course very evident within the US itself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGzXPBxi35I
Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ
I listened the other day to an oil analyst saying much the same as this.
‘Iran already has large amounts of oil in storage which have been extracted, say experts. Although it is a state secret exactly how much oil Iran has stored, analysts predict it could be as much as 37 million barrels. There have been reports that an injection of hundreds of thousands of barrels a day into the oil market, which is already struggling with oversupply, could depress prices further.’
http://www.newsweek.com/fears-iran-will-flood-oil-market-exaggerated-317001
~~
Why has the price of unleaded here risen from 104p/l to 112p/l in just a few weeks? The current p/b for crude is $55.
http://www.oil-price.net/
Is Israel an apartheid state?
No, says Noam Chomsky.
It’s worse!
“In the Occupied Territories, what Israel is doing is much worse than apartheid,” Chomsky says. “To call it apartheid is a gift to Israel, at least if by ‘apartheid’ you mean South African-style apartheid. What’s happening in the Occupied Territories is much worse. There’s a crucial difference. The South African Nationalists needed the black population. That was their workforce. … The Israeli relationship to the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories is totally different. They just don’t want them. They want them out, or at least in prison.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czD70xq9blw
I think Israel is a perfectly rational state in that it will do anything to survive in a sea of terrorist barbarity made up of those who are hell-bent on her destruction and their Western leftist allies who yearn for the Jews to be under the jackboot once more.
Anon
“I think Israel is a perfectly rational state in that it will do anything to survive in a sea of terrorist barbarity made up of those who are hell-bent on her destruction”
Why then do those charged with responsibility for Israel’s security, the Mossad, Shin bet and IDF Intelligence, state that it’s the irrational policies of successive Israeli politicians which are the greater threat to Israeli security?
Good question, Herbie. Mossad, Shin Bet, IDF and former Israeli leaders all seem to be getting a bit anti-semitic these days, don’t you think, “Anon”? Maybe they all secretly yearn to be back under the jackboot themselves? Either that, or Anon is totally full of it. Hmm. Wonder which!
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How and why did Anon get through in the light of the above?
Possibly, chose Anon [space] as a username.
Kind regards,
John
Netanyahu: Now is time for international community to stand ground for better deal with Iran
Premier’s remarks to press made shortly after world powers and Iran resume negotiations with Iran; Boehner, meeting with Netanyahu: U.S. bonds with Israel strong as ever, even if we disagree sometimes.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.650032
~~~
Merkel says that she hopes a compromise with Iran will be reached today but it must guarantee that Iran has no access to weapons.
Why then has Germany presented Dolfin submarines to Israhell, some with enlarged tubes for delivery of nuclear weapons?
Ref How The End Begins: The Road to a Nuclear World War III
https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=0857202774
Ron Rosenbaum – 2011 – Social Science
page 154
Eight years after receiving the first three Dolphin subs from Germany and two … These missiles, fired through the newly-enlarged 650mm-26-inch tubes, can
This is but one. There are many more. There is a deepening division between those charged with Israel’s security and the policies followed by successive Israeli administrations.
Old soldiers everywhere will be familiar with this phenomenon.
It often means much of the fighting was for nothing, other than the chicanery of the political class and their masters.
Remember, this is from a security of Israel perspective, by the people who know:
“We, Israeli society, are heading nowhere, and if we want to see ourselves 10, 20, 40 years from now, as a Jewish democracy, as a safe place for Jewish people and a democracy, we have to change the course of our actions, and we have to accept the idea that the two state solution is OUR interest.
We are not doing in for the international community.
We are not doing it for the Arab world.
And, we are not even doing it for the Palestinians.
We are doing it for ourselves.
And last, we believe it is in our hand to speak to the Palestinians, and to come closer to create the reality of two states…
We do not have the luxury of giving up on the idea of two states. Others can do that in Europe or America.”
Ami Ayalon, former head of Shin Bet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opqr2mP7awU
Diasporans, wannabees, and plastics everywhere, please take note. You aren’t doing us any favours with your “support”.
“How and why did Anon get through in the light of the above?”
He cut-and-paste his way through, of course, Lady Anonymouse. Now, please calm down, or get a glass of sherry. 😉
I still can’t believe anyone thinks the ICC, UN, or any other World government body works. Maybe if there was only one country it would work 🙂
Don’t think this will make much difference. The ICC have a deplorable record for prosecutions. They are a toothless dog locked in a kennel.
There is, I agree, the difficulty in enforcing any international law when the nation-state refuses to comply. Israel has broken international law in numerous areas. Its nuclear weapons are in contravention of international law. The US has broken international law on numerous occasions but is so arrogant it believes itself to be above the law.
Until the Nuremberg trials Nazi Germany considered itself to be above the law. Eventually the US and Israel will have to answer for their crimes. Building walls does not make you secure. As the Berlin wall showed it just segregates. As the 38th parallel across Korea shows, it just segregates.
” Its nuclear weapons are in contravention of international law. ”
Really? Which one?
Would India and Pakistan have also contravened this self same law?
@ Frazier, we hear a lot about the ICC being toothless (or worse – Francis Boyle fears it will decapitate the Palestinian leadership.) But why then, as recorded in that wikileaks cable, did Israel tell the US that ICC membership for Palestine was the greatest threat to the GOI? The ICC frankly scares Israel.
Israel is in contravention of more than 30 UN security council resolutions including not allowing nuclear weapons’ inspections (it does not admit to having them), occupation of the Golan Heights etc, etc. Go read them yourself Kempe. I might have guessed the trolls would try to make their presence felt on this one. Kempe has continually shown himself to be a jerk. He excels again.
Hmmm Frazer, you answered my concern and with the Lausanne talks allegedly at an impasse, Craig might just be better to stick to the merlot, at least for the time being. Many a slip between the cup and the lip, but not when it comes to wine.
Still, the ICC might just act as a deterrent and cause Israel to be a little more circumspect, or am I being naive? Time will tell.
Btw I happened to catch Netanyahu’s speech at the US Congress and laughed at the 101 standing applauses the oaf received and I couldn’t help but safely estimate these people to have an IQ any larger than their trouser-belts. Even knowing that some of those belts are pretty expansive.
Villager Cut the sarcasm. My name is Mary btw.
” Israel is in contravention of more than 30 UN security council resolutions including not allowing nuclear weapons’ inspections (it does not admit to having them), occupation of the Golan Heights etc, etc. ”
None of which make possession of nuclear weapons by Israel illegal as you claimed.
“I think Israel is a perfectly rational state in that it will do anything to survive in a sea of terrorist barbarity made up of those who are hell-bent on her destruction and their Western leftist allies who yearn for the Jews to be under the jackboot once more.”
dream onanon
It is not perfectly ‘rational’ at all by UN definitions of what makes a country. First you have to have defined borders, oh dear, stealing land and calling it yours and stealing resources of that land, regardless of international laws and conventions, does not make you a country but stifle’s your long term goals with the insecurity and malice, you are a rogue state.
Israel is not a ‘her’ and has used the same ‘terrorist barbarity’ in its genocidal acts against Palestinians, during the Nakbah and ever since. Israel should be sanctioned by the EU/ICC for its past treatment of human rights in GHaza and the West bank. Its special trading arrangements with EU countries should be sanctioned first, products under Israeli ownership should not be traded anywhere until Israel changes its aggression, has anger management classes so to speak.
The ‘waves’ of Zionist immigrants from all over the world that have ‘swamped’ Palestine’s shores and land with their chaos and Apartheid policies should not be supported, but urged to repent their dastardly Arian copy cat ways.
If Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons is not illegal, what is the problem with Iran acquiring nuclear weapons?