Hamas has also criticized the ICC’s decision to file for arrest warrants for its members.
Where to now?
The requests for warrants will now be assessed by the pre-trial chamber of the ICC.
“Let us today be clear on one core issue: if we do not demonstrate our willingness to apply the law equally, if it is seen as being applied selectively, we will be creating the conditions for its collapse,” the ICC’s Khan said in his statement Monday.
“In doing so, we will be loosening the remaining bonds that hold us together, the stabilising connections between all communities and individuals, the safety net to which all victims look in times of suffering. This is the true risk we face in this moment,” Khan said.
According to Professor Zinaida Miller, an international law expert at Northeastern University, the ICC’s decision to apply for the arrest warrants suggests a degree of certainty that the applications will succeed.
“The Prosecutor would not apply for warrants at this stage unless he was confident in what he has determined thus far,” Miller told POLITICO.
At the same time, the narrow focus of the allegations on individual officials means there will be a “limited capacity to address the larger context of these crimes other than in ways that directly bear on the criminal process,” she said.
“[But] it’s worth keeping on an eye on the limited nature of the process even as we see the historic significance of the applications, particularly regarding Israeli officials.”
