ICC arrest warrants, ICJ rulings have led to ‘mobilization of shame’ for Israel: Analyst

By Press TV Website Staff

The rulings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) have led to the “mobilization of shame” for the Israeli regime, says a legal expert.

In an interview with the Press TV website, Marjorie Cohn, professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California, and former president of the National Lawyers Guild, termed charges against Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and his former military affairs minister Yoav Gallant as “historic.”

“This is the first time the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against an Israeli official for crimes against the Palestinian people. It is only the second time in its 22 years of existence that the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for someone who is not from the African continent,” Cohn stated.

“Several of the states parties to the Rome Statute for the ICC have indicated they will implement the arrest warrants.”

ICC's indictment of Netanyahu and Gallant for their roles in the regime's ongoing genocidal war crimes against Palestinian civilians, including women and children, in Gaza has been widely welcomed.

However, it has still not ended Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which is now in its 427^th day, claiming more than 44,600 lives, 70 percent of them children and women.

Cohn said the arrest warrants issued by the Hague-based court have not stopped the regime’s genocidal aggression against Palestinians in Gaza but have led to the “mobilization of shame in which Israel is shamed in the eyes of the world.”

“Now 124 states parties to the Rome Statute have a legal obligation to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant if they set foot in those countries,” she told the Press TV website.

Protesters on Thursday gathered outside the hotel in New York City where Gallant was staying, demanding his arrest and calling for accountability following the issuance of ICC arrest warrants.

Despite the warrants, Gallant landed in the US and lauded the Israeli army's genocidal actions.

On Israeli claim that it’s committing genocide “in self-defense”, the noted legal luminary said the ICJ has in its 2004 advisory opinion mentioned the “non-applicability of self-defense.”

“In its 2004 advisory opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the International Court of Justice established the non-applicability of self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter in the situation between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  The Fourth Geneva Convention requires Israel, as Occupying Power, to protect the occupied Palestinian people,” she noted.

On the situation in Lebanon, where the Israeli regime has violated the ceasefire agreement more than 100 times since last Wednesday, Cohn said the Tel Aviv regime “continues to demonstrate that it cannot be trusted to abide by international law or agreements.”

“It is only pressure from the international community, including the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, that can impact Israel’s illegal actions,” she told the Press TV website.

Since last week, when a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon came into effect, ending nearly 70 days of Zionist aggression on Lebanon, the truce agreement has been repeatedly breached by the Tel Aviv regime.

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