Will NZ arrest Netanyahu if he visits?
I hate to be ‘that guy’, but if someone accused of war crimes with a current arrest warrant out by the International Criminal Court should come to New Zealand, will we arrest them?
Because the question hasn’t been answered clearly by the current Government t over whether or not we would arrest Netanyahu or his Defence Minister…
…let’s be very clear the ICC doesn’t put arrest warrants out for shits and giggles, Netanyahu has done this to himself…
Benjamin Netanyahu is a wanted man – and he has only himself to blame
Thanks to Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, which once dreamed of being a light unto the nations, has taken a step closer to becoming a leper among the nations. The Israeli prime minister and the defence minister he sacked a fortnight ago, Yoav Gallant, are now wanted men, the subject of arrest warrants issued on Thursday by the international criminal court (ICC), accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. From now on, some 124 countries are effectively closed to them: if Netanyahu or Gallant set foot in any member state of the ICC – which includes Britain and most of Europe – they face the risk of arrest. The UK government has already said it will follow the law, which sounds like a commitment to detain the two men if they come here. They are to be shunned, as a matter of international law.
Israeli ministers and their allies are raging against the ICC, accusing it of bias and double standards in levelling against Israel charges that it has never made against the leaders of any other western democracy. But the blame lies squarely with Netanyahu himself. Because this move, which signals a new isolation of Israel, was entirely avoidable.
Start with the law. Ask why the ICC didn’t go after, say, Britain for suspected war crimes in Iraq or the US on similar charges in Afghanistan, and you’ll be told that the ICC stays out of countries that have their own, reliable systems of justice. The legal principle is called “complementarity”, by which the ICC defers to the courts of the country accused, so long as it’s satisfied that any crimes will be properly investigated and pursued.
For Israel, the simplest solution would have been the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023 and all that has followed. As it happens, that’s been a loud demand within Israel ever since that murderous day 13 months ago. But Netanyahu has refused to give way. He fears an investigation will point the finger at him for leaving Israel exposed to the deadliest attack in its history. An inquiry would blow apart his pretence that, though he has been in the prime minister’s seat for most of the past 15 years, he was blameless for that horrific failure – though simultaneously responsible for all of Israel’s military successes. So, in a break with all Israeli precedent, there is still no inquiry into 7 October or the conduct of the war in Gaza. And that, under the principle of complementarity, opened the door to the ICC.
Of course, Netanyahu’s culpability goes much deeper. The ICC’s statementmakes clear that the heart of its case against Israel’s leaders relates to the supply of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The ICC says there are reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity”.
…this isn’t ‘anti-semitism’ this is an ethnic cleansing war crime from a State with no functioning judiciary to hold that State to account!
The UN have argued that what Israel is doing in Gaza does indeed meet the definition of Genocide, so let’s not pretend it isn’t any longer…
UN special committee likens Israeli policy in Gaza to genocide
Report also refers to Israel ‘using starvation as a weapon of war’ and running ‘apartheid system’ in West Bank
…seeing as it is genocide, isn’t it time for NZ to End the Working Holiday Visa for Israeli Soldiers coming to Aotearoa to Rest and Relax after committing Genocide in Palestine?
Why would we want soldiers from an Army currently accused of genocide to holiday and chill out after committing war crimes in New Zealand?
Why would we want that?
We don’t want to be a holiday haven for war criminals.
It’s time to take a moral stand here.
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As a founding member of the ICC we are obliged to follow its edicts which means yes the NZ government has to arrest him if he does come to NZ. If this weak government actually came out and said it then the US could tell us they will squash us like a bug if we did. This is the threat to the UK by the incoming US, government “We will crush you” if you arrest Netenyahu. Very doubtful that NZ will come out in support of the ICC arrest warrant.
Martyn Bradbury:
“the ICC stays out of countries that have their own, reliable systems of justice. The legal principle is called “complementarity”, by which the ICC defers to the courts of the country accused, so long as it’s satisfied that any crimes will be properly investigated and pursued.”
it is a proven fact beyond any dispute that Israel is a country where crimes committed against Palestinians by Israeli soldiers and Israeli civilians are not properly investigated. (Or indeed in most cases never investigated at all.)
The killing of Hind Rajab
The killing of 9 year old Hind Rajab and her family by the Israelis and the killing of the ambulance drivers sent to save Hind has still not been investigated by Israel. Other than the Israelis saying they didn’t do it and claiming that their forces were no where near the area where Hind was murdered. Despite the Israeli denial, satellite photographs published by the Washington Post and other news outlets clearly show Israeli tanks near the Hind family car and the ambulance at the time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Hind_Rajab#
The killing of Ayşenur Eygi
On 6 September 2024, 26-year-old woman Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, an American and Turkish dual citizen, was shot and killed by Israeli military forces during a protest against illegal Israeli settlements near Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.[1]….
September 10,
….Israel released the conclusion of its inquiry, in which it admitted that it was “highly likely” that Ezgi Eygi was killed by an Israeli sniper but alleged that the act was unintentional, the family released another statement, criticizing the Israeli inquiry as “wholly inadequate” and adding that “we are deeply offended by the suggestion that her killing by a trained sniper was in any way unintentional. The disregard shown for human life in the inquiry is appalling.”[7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Ay%C5%9Fenur_Eygi
The killing of Shareen Abu Akleh
From wikipedia:
Refusal of criminal investigation
On 19 May, Haaretz announced, quoting official sources in the Israeli army, that the latter refused to open a criminal investigation into the circumstances of the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh.[70] The same source also confirmed that “there are no criminal suspicions in Shireen’s death, and we do not want the investigation to lead to disputes within the army and society.”[71] The Israeli army confirmed, in an official response, what was reported by the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz, where it published a statement stating that “there is no way at the present time to open a criminal investigation into the circumstances of the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh.”[72]
These are only a few of the high profile cases that Israel has refused to investigate or try. There are many thousands more, of less high profile murders of Palestinians by Israelis that Israel refuses to prosecute, proving the ICC’s case of lack of complementarity in the case of Israeli judicial system.
The Israeli legal system is so broken that despite repeated calls from civil society groups the judiciary and courts have refused any investigation into the killings by Hamas fighters on October 7. it is suspected that the 32 Hamas fighters captured alive by the IDF, that Israelis have demanded be tried in court for committing war crimes, have instead been extrajudicially executed in defiance of all international laws relating to the treatment of POWs