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The South African Communist Party has consistently been critical of the International Criminal Court (ICC), particularly for taking the side of imperialist forces in conflict situations. This problem has made the ICC appear as a judicial and political instrument of the United States-led imperialist collective West and a component of neo-colonialism’s modern apparatus. 

In what appears as a change of mind, on Thursday, 21 November 2024, the ICC unanimously issued two significant rulings. First, it rejected a legal challenge brought about by the apartheid Israeli settler regime under Articles 18 and 19 of the Rome Statute. Second, it issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed between 8 October 2023 and 20 May 2024, the date the ICC Prosecution submitted the arrest applications.

While the arrest warrant for Netanyahu, now called “Satanyahu” by others, and Gallant, is important and therefore widely welcome, the fact is that it comes far too late. In its genocidal campaign since October 2023, the apartheid Israeli settler regime has killed over 53,000 Palestinian people. The delayed response by the ICC, compared to other cases, underlines possibilities of undue influence by the United States-led imperialist collective West. 

The imperialist regime of the United States has consistently opposed any accountability action against Israel. Besides supplying the apartheid Israeli settler regime with murder weapons, the United States has vetoed United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire. Its representatives have even threatened sanctions against the ICC, its prosecutors and judges. These actions are part of an array of instruments used by the imperialists to exert their influence. 

Also, on the same day that the ICC issued the arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Gallant, it issued a problematic arrest warrant for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri (Deif) of Hammas. This was based on the same charges as those brought against the two leaders of the apartheid Israeli settler regime’s genocide on Palestinian people. In fact, the apartheid Israeli settler regime has claimed responsibility for killing Deif as part of their genocidal campaign. The Palestinian authorities have confirmed his death. Nevertheless, the ICC issued the arrest warrant against him, accepting its prosecution’s argument “that it is not in a position to determine whether Mr Deif has been killed or remains alive”. 

The fundamental problem lies in equating the struggle of the oppressed in their own land against occupying oppressors with the actions of the oppressors. Arrest warrants issued against the oppressed for alleged actions in their land and legitimate struggle against occupying oppressors serve only to legitimise and inevitably prolong the oppression and colonial occupation. This is unacceptable.

It should also be noted that since its establishment in July 2002, the ICC has done absolutely nothing effective to end the injustice endured by the Palestinian people for at least 55 years following the imperialist-backed creation of the apartheid Israeli settler state in the 1940s. This year marked 22 years of continued injustice against the Palestinian people following the establishment of the ICC, bringing the total duration of the apartheid Israeli settler regime’s injustices against the Palestinian people to 72 years. Considering this entire period and the geography of historical Palestine, the apartheid Israeli settler regime has killed far more Palestinian people historically.

Clearly, there are many more present and past leaders of the apartheid Israeli settler regime who must be held accountable for murdering Palestinian people and for other violations of the Palestinian people’s human rights. 

The SACP pledges its unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people for the freedom of historical Palestine. In the same vein, we reaffirm our international solidarity with the entire axis of resistance against the imperialist-backed apartheid Israeli settler regime in the Middle East. 

We reiterate our call for an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian situation and in Lebanon and Syria. 

Issued by the South African Communist Party