ICC Gaza flotilla case to isolate Israel: Activist
Press TV has conducted an interview with Joe Catron, with the International Solidarity Movement from Washington, about a decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to reopen criminal investigation into the 2010 Gaza flotilla attack by the Israeli regime.
The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: How significant do you think it is or would be if the ICC wants to reopen this case?
Catron: Well, I think it’s less significant in terms of the particular case of Israel’s killing of 10 activists on board of 2010 Freedom Flotilla, then it wouldn’t show us about where the ICC is going with regards Israel. Remember this is an institution facing a severe crisis of legitimacy. We saw a virtual uprising against it only last month at the African Union summit in South Africa over an attempt by South African High Court to enforce the ICC arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The African Union has noticed the ICC has filed a total of 22 cases and nine situations each of them against an African leader. They’re not happy with this. The rest of the world is also taking notice of ICC’s very limited attention upon towards Africa up until now. And because of this, the ICC is feeling the heat and also the need to look elsewhere to find new cases, which has disregarded up until now on account of the various pressures it faces from the United States, the European Union and elsewhere. So, I don’t know how much we can expect from the case of the Freedom Flotilla in 2010. I think the simple fact the judges rejected the closing of this case tells us a great deal about we can hope for, when it comes to Israel’s massive ongoing crimes such as the repeated massacres in the Gaza Strip and its ongoing settlement construction in the West Bank.
Press TV: I’m wondering with the ICC being this weak and obviously Israel is not a signatory to begin with anyhow, how hard is it to ever bring down Israel to account?
Catron: That’s an excellent question and I don’t know that anyone knows the definite answer at this point. Of course, up until now the only cases really pursued by the ICC have been those of African leaders. But I think, it’s safe to say that as a minimum Israel faces a great deal of international isolation as a result of the potential prosecutions that it is now facing, if nothing else these cases could make it very difficult for Israeli leaders and other officials within the government to travel abroad, for example.
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