London: As clamour grows louder for the International Criminal Court to probe Israeli war crimes against the Palestinians, an Israeli academic has pointed to a brutal reality saying that the ICC is not for providing justice to those who are weak.
Talking to Turkish news agency, Anadolu, Neve Gordon, Professor of International Law and Human Rights at Queen Mary University of London, asserted that the International Criminal Court (ICC) tends to target weaker entities rather than powerful nations, like Israel.
“If we look at the ICC and who has been brought forth to the ICC, we also see that it is mostly a court that tries the weak rather than the strong,” Gordon said in a video interview to Anadolu.
Gordon’s assertion has raised serious questions about the efficacy of international legal avenues in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
“International law was created by state parties and is often used to defend strong state parties against weaker non-state parties”, Gordon said referring to the laws of war - the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Additional Protocols of 1977.
Gordon is also of the view that these international laws will not protect the Palestinian people as they have a lot of exceptions and leaves a lot of room to interpretation and manipulation.
“Israel has in the past used international laws to defend itself in the face of accusations of illegitimate violence”, he said.
He however said Israel can still be taken to the court though it is not a signatory to the ICC’s establishing 1998 treaty.
“The investigation can proceed due to Palestine’s 2015 accession to the Rome, which gave the ICC jurisdiction over crimes perpetrated by Palestinian nationals or crimes perpetrated in whole or in part on Palestinian territory”, Gordon explained.
Gordon’s comments came as a good number of people in the world are demanding to put to trial Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Zionist regime in Israel for their war crimes.
The Israeli professor however said it is “very difficult” to hold strong countries accountable for their actions.
“We see Israel occupying the Palestinians for years on end and it's not accountable to its actions. So, I don't think the law is going to be the tool”, he said. “I think it has to be that civil society in different countries pressure their governments and say to their governments, ‘this is not ok.’ You have to stop the escalation of violence and bring justice to Israel-Palestine”, he opined.
“We see Israel occupying the Palestinians for years on end and it's not accountable to its actions. So, I don't think the law is going to be the tool”, he said.
“I think it has to be that civil society in different countries pressure their governments and say to their governments, ‘this is not ok.’ You have to stop the escalation of violence and bring justice to Israel-Palestine”, he opined.
Gordon also believes that the pro-Palestinian campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel is the most effective way to bring Tel Aviv to account.
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