Things Can Only Get Better

A number of countries are denigrating the ICC asking for an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and his cronies, arguing that there is no moral equivalence between Hamas and the Netanyahu government.

This is a straw man. It's not about moral equivalence, but equality before the law.

A minority of countries genuinely don't want to be a member of the ICC due to sovereignty issues, yet they're more than willing to be part of other international bodies, such as the UN. Others are worried about their own dubious records and don't want to open themselves to prosecution, and therefore won't recognise the ICC.

America is not a member, but America's ally, the UK, is. However, Sunak and Gove have criticised the ICC's actions. I'm not at all surprised they criticise it and I wouldn't be surprised if the UK, under the Tories, leaves the ICC - although it's probably to late now after yesterday's news.

The UK government's criticism stems from the implications for the UK government should an arrest warrant be issued, as the UK has shipped arms to Israel and could be considered complicit. It's in the government's interests to poo-poo the arrest warrant, if it comes about.

Interestingly, the UK government consistently refuses to publish the legal opinion it received on the arms shipments. I wonder why?

That said, the ICC arrest warrant, if issued, does not cover the hostilities themselves, but the denial of aid shipments, so the UK and America should not be as worried as they are. It does, however, cast them in a poor light, given they're avid allies of Israel.

The pro-Netanyahu press and the Likud disinformation machine have gone into overdrive, maintaining the ICC is denying Israel's right to defend itself, relying on no-one having read the application. It specifically and carefully states that Israel has a right to defend itself, but that the application has nothing to do with that.

The ICC has been criticised for going after easy targets in Africa; however, it's African countries themselves that refer most cases to the ICC. The ICC operates with due process and accusations of bias are groundless.

On another front, Rishi's parade was rained on - things can only get better. However, there's already talk of ousting Sunak before Parliament is prorogued. Stability under Starmer or chaos under the Tories - seems the Tories are set on chaos.