ARGUING YES
Former Executive Director of Human Rights Watch; Professor at the Princeton School of International Affairs
ARGUING NO
Law Professor at George Mason University; Executive Director of Scalia Law School’s Center for the Middle East and International Law
GUEST MODERATOR
Geopolitical Strategist; Principal at Wickett Advisory; Trustee of Transparency International UK
This week:
- New episode: Do Netanyahu’s actions in the Israel-Hamas War amount to war crimes?
- A closer look at Europeans and Americans’ views of the arrest warrants
- Your Sunday reading list
In the coming months, the International Criminal Court (ICC) will make a decision that will affect the war in Israel and Gaza and international diplomacy, while potentially setting a new legal precedent.
Prosecutor Karim Khan announced his intention to request arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, with war crimes and crimes against humanity. At the same time, he also requested arrest warrants for three prominent Hamas leaders. The warrants on both sides concern their actions in response to the ongoing events in Israel and Gaza since October 7th.
To help us understand what this means for Netanyahu, and whether the ICC has jurisdiction, or the evidence needed, we have top international law experts debating this week. Kenneth Roth, who was at the helm of Human Rights Watch for nearly three decades, argues that Netanyahu’s arrest warrant is justified. Arguing on the other side is Eugene Kontorovich, a leading expert on Israel and Gaza, esteemed international law scholar, and director of George Mason University’s Center on the Middle East and International Law. Geopolitical strategist Xenia Wickett, who is the principal at Wickett Advisory, is our guest moderator.
Is issuing an arrest warrant for a sitting leader fighting a war against a recognized terrorist organization justified? What will this mean for Israel on the global stage? Listen now on Apple Podcasts, YouTube and WNYC. As always, let us know what you think.
DEBATING THE DATA
Should Sinwar or Netanyahu have been issued arrest warrants by the ICC?
POINT/COUNTERPOINT
Is the ICC’s Warrant Against Netanyahu Justified?
YES: Kenneth Roth
“Israel is smart enough to know that they can’t do a hundred percent siege. What they’re doing is they’re letting in drips and drops of aid. Before October 7th, typically 500 trucks entered Gaza every single day. Israel’s been allowing in an average of a hundred trucks. So yes, food gets in, people are not dying, but they are starving… That is a sufficient starvation strategy to justify the war crimes charges. Netanyahu is afraid to show up in The Hague because he’s got no leg to stand on.”
NO: Eugene Kontorovich
“There is simply no starvation strategy, and there is no starvation… This is not the standard that has ever been used, and it’s being applied to Israel because Israel is a small, vulnerable country, and applying these standards to it is designed to keep it from effectively defending itself from Hamas. Any war has dislocations and any war causes suffering for civilians, especially one fought like Hamas does, where it puts all of its targets in civilian population centers, where it builds tunnels under civilian places, where it takes over U.N. facilities, where it takes over schools, and where not a single civilian is allowed to flee the country.”
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