The news kicked off the week with a bang. On Monday, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, announced that he was filing requests for arrest warrants against three Hamas representatives, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his minister. of Defense, Yoav Gallant, for various crimes against humanity, linked to the conflict between the Israeli State and Hamas.
The approach was somewhat unusual: a public announcement before filing requests for warrants to present charges, as well as the publication of a report prepared by independent experts that supports the charges filed. It was obvious that we were in delicate territory.
The accusations against the representatives of Hamas (Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri and Ismaïl Haniyeh) relate to the actions taken during the attack of October 7: murders, extermination, hostage-taking. They also relate to sexual violence and acts of torture perpetrated against the hostages during their detention. We emphasize the brutal and degrading nature of the actions taken. Note, also, that the filing of charges is accompanied by a call for the immediate release of the hostages.
As for the accusations against Netanyahu and Gallant, they do not relate to Israel’s defensive military actions in the conflict, but to the humanitarian offenses perpetrated in this context. Specifically, they target the systematic deprivation of the population of Gaza of goods and resources essential to human survival and the willful infliction of suffering, serious injury and death on civilians. Abuse which, it is emphasized, is still ongoing.
What is being criticized against Israel therefore goes beyond its exercise of the right to self-defense. It is no coincidence that Khan focused on the famine inflicted on the Gazan population. It intends to demonstrate that the State of Israel did not limit itself to implementing a response proportional to the threat, that it deployed measures expressly aimed at inflicting suffering on civilians, in particular by obstructing for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Karim Khan is not only an experienced prosecutor, he also has a reputation for being prudent and reasonable. He would not have filed the arrest warrant requests lightly. In addition, he mandated a group of independent experts to examine the evidence submitted and determine whether it supports the alleged offenses. The group unanimously concluded yes.
Regardless, Israel’s most hardened allies greeted the filing of the arrest warrant requests with fury and indignation. First and foremost, US President Joe Biden declared that “no matter what this prosecutor suggests, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.”
This idea that the ICC draws an equivalence between the State of Israel and Hamas is the line that has emerged to discredit the approach, including among States cautiously recognizing its legitimacy.
Yet it seems fairly clear that the alleged offenses are distinct, based on different facts and charges. But here it is: the abuses of one do not absolve the actions taken by the other. The extreme violence of Hamas attacks does not erase or justify the fact of starving and terrorizing a population. Violence is increasing; ripostes do not ward off it. And while hot and cold are blowing hot and cold on the diplomatic scene, the Gazans are still suffering a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented depth.
Canada jumped on this bandwagon by declaring that there should be no equivalence between Hamas and the Israeli government. It has been said, however: no one shows any equivalence. Simply, both parties are respectively targeted by allegations of crimes against humanity, in the context of a conflict opposing them. It’s not difficult to understand.
At home, the Canadian delegation of the Freedom Flotilla for Gaza, an international humanitarian mission which aims to send humanitarian convoys by sea, despite the blockade imposed by Israel, continues its efforts to organize a new departure. Currently, 500 people from nearly 40 countries are taking part in this mission. We hope to transport 5,500 tonnes of essential goods (food, medical equipment) to Gaza. Five Canadians, including three Quebecers, took part.
In April, the Quebec delegation, made up in particular of Nimâ Machouf, a well-known epidemiologist, and Jean-Pierre Roy Valdebenito, a nurse from Quebec, attempted for the first time to set sail from Turkey. At the last minute, Guinea-Bissau withdrew its flag due to pressure from Israel.
Upon its return, the team addressed the Canadian government to demand that Canada support and accompany the flotilla in its mission, in full consistency with Canadian humanitarian policy.
This week, a promising outlet: the team was able to speak with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly. After the meeting, the members of the delegation told me that the minister had been open to the humanitarian mission of the flotilla. Discussions, I am told, are continuing. It is a small step, modest given the scale of the crisis still raging in Gaza, but progress nonetheless. I’ll talk to you about it again.
Reactions to the ICC’s actions have painfully shown that the international community remains very reluctant to get tougher on Israel. In the absence of political leadership on this front, humanitarian efforts, at least, may eventually bear some fruit.