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Fact Check: Netanyahu is a war criminal

Fact Check: Netanyahu is a war criminal

March 20, 2025•by TruthOrFake
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# Is Netanyahu a War Criminal? ## Introduction The claim that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal has gained traction follow...

Is Netanyahu a War Criminal?

Introduction

The claim that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal has gained traction following the issuance of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for him and other Israeli officials. This development has raised significant debate about the legality of military actions taken during the Gaza conflict and the implications of such accusations. The context surrounding these claims is complex, involving international law, military conduct, and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

What We Know

  1. ICC Arrest Warrants: On November 21, 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, citing allegations of war crimes committed during military operations in Gaza from October 8, 2023, to May 20, 2024. The charges include starvation as a method of warfare and intentionally directing attacks against civilian populations, as well as crimes against humanity such as murder and persecution 157.

  2. Legal Framework: The ICC operates under the Rome Statute, which defines war crimes and crimes against humanity. The court has jurisdiction over actions taken in member states or by nationals of member states, which raises questions about the applicability of its jurisdiction to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, given that Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute 12.

  3. Statements from the ICC: Karim Khan, the ICC's chief prosecutor, has emphasized that both Israeli and Palestinian actions during the conflict are under investigation, indicating a balanced approach to accountability 12. However, the ICC's investigations have faced criticism regarding their impartiality and effectiveness, particularly from Israeli officials who argue that the court is biased against Israel 34.

  4. Context of the Conflict: The allegations against Netanyahu arise amid a backdrop of ongoing violence and military operations in Gaza, which have resulted in significant civilian casualties and humanitarian crises. The conflict has been characterized by both sides accusing each other of war crimes, complicating the legal and moral landscape 68.

Analysis

The claim that Netanyahu is a war criminal is rooted in the ICC's legal actions, but several factors must be critically assessed:

  • Source Reliability: The ICC is a recognized international legal body, but its credibility has been questioned by various nations, including Israel and the United States, which argue that the court's investigations are politically motivated. The ICC's prosecutor has faced personal controversies that could potentially impact perceptions of the court's integrity 4.

  • Methodology of Investigations: The ICC's investigations rely on evidence gathered from various sources, including testimonies, reports from NGOs, and military documentation. However, the methodologies used to collect and evaluate this evidence can be contentious, particularly in conflict zones where access is limited and narratives are often polarized 69.

  • Conflicting Narratives: Supporters of the claim argue that the evidence presented by the ICC substantiates the allegations against Netanyahu, while critics assert that the context of self-defense in military operations complicates the application of international law. This dichotomy reflects broader geopolitical biases and the polarized nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 3710.

  • Potential Bias: Some sources may have inherent biases based on their national or political affiliations, which can influence their portrayal of events and legal interpretations. For example, media outlets and organizations with strong ties to either the Israeli or Palestinian narratives may present skewed perspectives on the allegations against Netanyahu 28.

Conclusion

Verdict: Unverified

The claim that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal remains unverified due to several key factors. The issuance of arrest warrants by the ICC is a significant legal development, yet the applicability of the court's jurisdiction to Israel is contested, as Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute. Furthermore, the investigations by the ICC have been criticized for potential bias and the reliability of evidence, which complicates the assessment of the allegations against Netanyahu.

The context of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict adds layers of complexity, with both sides accusing each other of war crimes, leading to conflicting narratives. The evidence presented by the ICC, while serious, is subject to interpretation and debate, reflecting broader geopolitical tensions.

It is important to acknowledge the limitations in the available evidence, as the methodologies used by the ICC and the sources of information can be contentious. As such, the claim cannot be definitively categorized as true or false at this time. Readers are encouraged to critically evaluate information and consider multiple perspectives when assessing such serious allegations.

Sources

  1. International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Israeli leaders. (n.d.). Retrieved from Wikipedia
  2. Full ICC statement on Netanyahu and Hamas arrest warrants. (2024). BBC. Retrieved from BBC
  3. Warrants put Israeli PM and others in a small group of leaders accused. (2024). AP News. Retrieved from AP News
  4. International court prosecutor who charged Netanyahu faces sexual misconduct allegations. (2024). AP News. Retrieved from AP News
  5. Netanyahu - International Criminal Court. (n.d.). Retrieved from ICC
  6. The alleged crimes laid out in the ICC's arrest warrants for Netanyahu. (2024). ABC News. Retrieved from ABC News
  7. ICC issues arrest warrant for Israeli PM Netanyahu for 'war crimes' in Gaza. (2024). Al Jazeera. Retrieved from Al Jazeera
  8. ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas officials. (2024). PBS. Retrieved from PBS
  9. ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant over Gaza. (2024). Times of Israel. Retrieved from Times of Israel
  10. ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant. (2024). Responsible Statecraft. Retrieved from Responsible Statecraft

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Fact Check: It is all about 1948. It's not about October 7, 1956, 1967, 1982, 2008, 2014 or any other date on which Israel committed egregious atrocities in and around Palestine; it's all about 1948, and it's important to remember this date well. The war and the complete failure of all attempts to achieve a viable peace have pushed Palestine back to this date. The 76 years that have passed have been a fruitless struggle for 'peace'. All they have done is give Israel four decades to reinforce its total control over Palestine. This is all about history. Understanding the struggle for Palestine requires understanding its historical context. The modern history commences with Britain using the Zionists, while simultaneously being utilized by them, to establish an imperial foothold in the Middle East, effectively transforming Israel into the central pillar of a bridge from Egypt and the Nile to Iraq, its oil, and the Gulf. The calculations were devoid of morality, driven solely by self-interest. Britain had no right to cede a portion of the area it was occupying—Palestine—to another occupier, and the UN similarly lacked the authority to do so. The 1947 General Assembly partition resolution was essentially a US resolution anyway; the numbers were fixed by the White House once it became clear that it would fail. Chaim Weizmann, the prominent Zionist leader in London and Washington, requested Truman's intervention. “I am aware of how much abstaining delegations would be swayed by your counsel and the influence of your government,” he informed the president. “I refer to China, Honduras, Colombia, Mexico, Liberia, Ethiopia, Greece. I beg and pray for your decisive intervention at this decisive hour.” Among the countries that needed a push were the Philippines, Cuba, Haiti, and France. “We went for it," stated Clark Clifford, Truman’s special counsel, subsequently. “It was because the White House was for it that it went through. I kept the ramrod up the State Department’s butt.” Herschel Johnson, the deputy chief of the US mission at the UN, cried in frustration while speaking to Loy Henderson, a senior diplomat and head of the State Department’s Office of Near Eastern Affairs, who was a staunch adversary of the construction of a Zionist settler state in Palestine. “Loy, forgive me for breaking down like this,” Johnson stated, “but Dave Niles called us here a couple of days ago and said that the president had instructed him to tell us that, by God, he wanted us to get busy and get all the votes that we possibly could, that there would be hell if the voting went the other way.” In September, UNSCOP (the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine) convened an ad hoc committee to evaluate its proposals. The committee consisted of all members of the General Assembly, with subcommittees designated to evaluate the suggestions presented. On November 25, the General Assembly, acting as an ad hoc committee, approved partition with a vote of 25 in favor, 13 against, and 17 abstentions. A two-thirds majority was required for the partition resolution to succeed in the General Assembly plenary session four days later, indicating its impending failure. However, following the White House's endorsement, seven of the 17 abstainers from November 25 voted 'yes' on November 29, resulting in the passage of Resolution 181 (II) with 33 votes in favor, 13 against, and 10 abstentions. Niles, the Zionists' ‘point man’ at the White House, subsequently partnered with Clark Clifford to undermine the State Department's proposal to replace partition with trusteeship for the time being because of the violence threatened in Palestine. Niles was the first member of a series of Zionist lobbyists sent to monitor the presidency from within. Despite their unpopularity and potential resentment, the presidents had no choice but to tolerate their persistent pressure. During John Kennedy's administration, Mike (Myer) Feldman was permitted to oversee all State Department and White House cable concerning the Middle East. Despite internal opposition within the White House, Kennedy perceived Feldman “as a necessary evil whose highly visible White House position was a political debt that had to be paid,” as noted by Seymour Hersh in The Samson Option. Israel’s Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy (p. 98). Lyndon Johnson took over Feldman after Kennedy's assassination, granting Israel all its demands without offering anything in return. The transfer of Palestine to a recent settler minority contravened fundamental UN norms, including the right to self-determination. Resistance to Zionism and the formation of a Jewish state in Palestine were significant within the US administration, but it was the man in the White House, influenced by domestic interests (money and votes), who called the shots and has been calling them ever since. Palestine went from British control to American hands, and then to the Zionists. 29 November 1947 - partition plans. 33 voted for, 13 voted against, 10 abstained The desires of the Palestinians were irrelevant to the 'return' of the Jewish people to their ''ancient homeland'', as noted by Arthur Balfour. The fact that Jews could not 'return’ to a land in which they or their ancestors had never lived was equally immaterial. What went on behind closed doors to ensure the establishment of a colonial-settler state in Palestine, contrary to the desires of its populace, represents but one episode in a protracted history of duplicity, deceit, persistent breaches of international law, and violations of fundamental UN principles. The so-called "Palestine problem" has never been a "Palestine problem," but rather a Western and Zionist problem—a volatile combination of the two that the perpetrators are still blaming on their victims. There would be no ambiguity regarding our current situation at the precipice if Western governments and the media held Israel accountable rather than shielding, endorsing, and rationalizing even the most egregious offenses under the pretext of Israel's 'right' to self-defense. It is absurd to propose that a thief has any form of 'right' to 'defend' stolen property. The right belongs to the person fighting for its return, as the Palestinians have been doing daily since 1948. Aside from the 5–6% of land acquired by Zionist purchasing agencies before 1948, Israelis are living on and in stolen property. They will defend it, but they have no 'right' to defend something that, by any legal, moral, historical, or cultural measure, belongs to someone else. This has never been a 'conflict of rights' as 'liberal' Zionists have claimed, because a right is a right and cannot conflict with another right. The real rights in this context are evident, or would be, if they were not persistently suppressed by Western governments and a media that unconditionally safeguards Israel's actions. Although the non-binding UNGA partition resolution of that year did not include a 'transfer' of the Palestinian population, the creation of a Jewish state would have been more challenging without it. Without the expulsion of indigenous Palestinians, the demographic composition of the 'Jewish state' would have included an equal number of Palestinian Muslims and Christians alongside Jews. War was the sole means of getting rid of Palestinian natives; raw force achieved what Theodor Herzl envisioned when he referred to “spiriting” the “penniless population” from their land. Upon its completion, Weizmann expressed excitement regarding this "miraculous simplification of our task." Following 1948, there were massacres in the West Bank, Gaza, and Jordan; massacres in Lebanon; and wars and assassinations throughout the region and beyond. A second wave of ethnic cleansing succeeded the 1948 one in 1967, and now a third and fourth wave is taking place in Gaza and southern Lebanon, terrorizing and slaughtering town dwellers and villagers into fleeing. https://preview.redd.it/orxl88k6mfoe1.jpg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=12103a2b560e3af2f72c656e6e39fdbea64caa11 Western governments and the media are facilitating the gradual, covert, illegal, and pseudo-legal erosion of Palestinian life and rights in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It is remarkable how the media constantly discusses October 7 but never talks about any of this critical history. Of course, as an accomplice to one of the biggest crimes of the 20th century, meticulously orchestrated and executed violently, discussing it candidly would entail self-incrimination; thus, it diverts the discourse to alternative subjects—''Hamas terrorism'', ''October 7''—anything to distract from Israel's egregious war crimes. This distortion of the narrative has persisted since the PLO and the popular fronts of the 1960s were labeled as terrorists, while Israel was portrayed as a plucky small state merely defending itself. The Poles, the French, and other Europeans opposed the Nazi occupation. The distinction is clear: resistance to occupation by Palestinians is labeled as terrorism, while state-sponsored terrorism is characterized as 'self-defense.' This distortion of truth has been outrageously amplified following the pager/walkie-talkie terrorist acts perpetrated by Israel in Lebanon. Western governments and their connected media entities have rationalized and even lauded them. The Palestinians demonstrated their readiness to transcend the events of 1948 and to make significant concessions for peace —22 percent of the land in exchange for relinquishing 78 percent—provided Israel would engage sincerely with the rights of the 1948 generation; nevertheless, Israel ignored their offers contemptuously. The Palestinians were willing to share Jerusalem, but Israel was not receptive to this proposition. It had consistently desired all of Palestine. The Netanyahu government, seeing no need for such concealment, now unveils the truth that the 1990s 'peace process' and previous proposals from various diplomatic entities obscured. It explicitly states its desires, regardless of the opinions of others, including former partners, which align with the initial aspirations of the Zionist movement: all of Palestine, ideally devoid of Palestinians. Israel's refusal to cede any portion of Palestine has blurred the distinctions between the pre- and post-1967 eras. There are no delineating green lines between occupied and unoccupied territories, only the red lines that Israel transgresses daily. Deprived of even a small portion of their homeland, Palestinians and their supporters are compelled to resort to resistance and are resolute in their pursuit of reclaiming all of 1948 Palestine, rather than merely the limited fraction they previously would have accepted. Western countries facilitate and even promote Israel's existence outside international law by providing arms and financial assistance. Israel's occupation, massacres, and assassinations occur because of Western governments' tacit approval and encouragement. If Israel commits genocide, it is due to Western nations' acquiescence and implicit endorsement. If Israel is condemning itself to endless war with those whose fundamental rights it has infringed upon for the past 76 years, it is due to Western governments' acceptance. They have allowed Israel to push the world to the brink of regional and even global conflict. Israel is chaotic, yet it has never been orderly. The West has also permitted this, and it will face consequences.

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