Photo courtesy of News 18
After Israel’s genocidal rampage in Gaza since October 7, 2023, which has killed nearly 44,000 “human animals” and “cockroaches” in the words of Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant and wounded around another 105,000 while turning that strip of land into an uninhabitable heap of brick and concrete rabble, judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have at last issued arrest warrants for these two war criminals and for Hamas leader Mohammed Deif. Of the three wasn’t the last claimed to have been killed by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in an air strike in Gaza in July this year? Does that mean Deif is still alive according to ICC?
Israel’s killings and destruction has now extended into Lebanon. According to one report, in both Gaza and Lebanon, the IDF has killed more than 17, 000 children and in Lebanon alone 400,000 children are displaced from their homes. In these two killing fields the IDF has not spared even international news reporters and aid workers.
The tragedy about these warrants is that they are virtually ineffective because the ICC does not have a police force to chase and arrest international criminals and outlaws. The ICC therefore needs to depend on the good offices of the 124 countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute. And this tragedy turns into comedy when one realizes that Israel and its backer US are not parties to that statute. That was why when the ICC initially requested the arrest warrants in July, President Joe Biden called it “outrageous” and now the outgoing lame duck president reaffirmed that position. That became even more evident when the US singularly vetoed the last UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire when all other 14 members supported it. One can be rest assured that US backing of Israel would be further strengthened when Donald Trump takes over the presidency soon. And curiously, according to Trump, America’s security seems to depend on the security of Israel. Thus, enamoured and strengthened by that solid backing from US Netanyahu, a protected outlaw, has reacted to the ICC warrants by showing the digitus impudiaus or the insulting middle finger; his was a Roman salute to the Rome Statute.
This is an insulting embarrassment not only to the ICC but also to every other international institution operating under the auspices of UN to promote law and order and peace and harmony among civilized nations. Worse is the situation of the Arab Muslim world and all those 57 members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The entire organization has become a clique of impotent jokers with all their petroleum resources and financial assets and none of them, including Iran, is militarily capable of challenging the might of Israel. To the US on the other hand, Israel is the most dependable ally not only to take care of its imperial interests in the region in general but also for the US to take control of the economic resources and markets in Muslim Middle East and prevent either Russia or China setting foot in that part of the world.
According to a study published in 2019 by UNCTAD titled “The Economic Cost of Occupation for the Palestinian People: The Unrealized Oil and Natural Gas Potential”, there is a deposit of 122 trillion cubic feet of oil and gas of which an estimated $522 billion worth of oil is recoverable. That was why Donald Trump during his first term as president successfully engineered the so-called Abraham Accord signed between Israel and UAE and between Israel and Bahrain in 2020 so that a joint commercial venture could be established to exploit this resource and promote friendly relations between Arab nations and Israel.
Trump’s successor went along with that policy and he was about to bring in Saudi Arabia into that Accord when Hamas spoilt everything by firing those deadly rockets in October 2023. What began as Gaza-Israel war has now turned into Gaza-Israel-US war drawing Lebanon, Iran and Syria into it. President Biden’s occasional calls for limited ceasefire was a charade while he continues supplying weapons and funds to Israel and the so-called Qatari mediation efforts have ended in zero. In fact, Netanyahu has been given a free hand to accomplish what the ultra-orthodox Zionists want him to do i.e., to get rid of all Arabs from Gaza and annex it with Israel. Yet despite all the killings and devastation of Gaza, Israel could not finish off Hamas and now Netanyahu is offering $5 million cash for every Israeli hostage returned by Hamas. There is no chance of that happening.
Trump promised during his campaign to end the war in one month. How is he going to do is not clear but there are some indications that he would put an end to the so called two state solution. His choice of appointing Mike Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas and former evangelist as Ambassador to Israel would encourage Netanyahu to proceed with the total annexation of not only Gaza but also the West Bank. According to Huckabee there is “no such thing as the West Bank” and “no such thing as settlements” but only Judea and Samarra as the ultra-orthodox Israelis would call. Not only he would do everything possible to make that become a reality but as a first step would reactivate Trump’s earlier call to shift Israel’s capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Eventually, with or without Trump, the entire Palestine would become part of Israel and the sacred mosque al-Aqsa would be eliminated to rebuild on its ground David’s temple. Netanyahu’s Likud Party’s charter of 1977 says, “From the river to the sea”, which would mean between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan river there will only be Israel sovereignty. In the meantime, Western leaders would go on repeating their empty promise of a two state solution to the Palestine problem.
Outside the Middle East is another worrying development that should concern countries like Sri Lanka. Orthodox Hasidic Jews are putting up Chabad Houses all over the world and they are very active in the universities in America. In Sri Lanka also they are mushrooming. The suspected terror threat on the one in Arugam Bay recently and before that the fire that destroyed a Muslim Girls school in Weligama were rumoured to have had Jewish links. It is claimed that Chabad houses are providing services to Jewish tourists but what type of services apart from supplying kosher food are they providing is not clear. There are reports that tourists from Israel are staying for months and illegally engaging in business activities. It appears that the lure of employment in Israel for local artisans and skilled workers seems to have allowed bankrupt Sri Lankan governments to tolerate the activities of law breaking tourists. However, with Sri Lanka’s increasing importance in the geo-strategic rivalry among China, India and the US in the Indian Ocean whether the Chabad houses are becoming centres of Mossad intrigues needs to be closely monitored especially by the left leaning NPP government committed to system change.