Anti-Israel activist groups don't care about the ICC warrant applications - analysis

With International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan's announcement on Monday about the application for arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, it was expected that the anti-Israel organizations of the post-October 7 protest movement would celebrate to mirror the dismay of pro-Israel groups.In contrast to the endless stream of condemnations from Jewish organizations of every denomination and purpose, the flurry of opinion pieces, and the castigations of the ICC by Israeli politicians, the protest groups have issued a few statements and social media posts about the warrant application.The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions National Committee has been posting about targets for anti-Israel boycotts. National Students for Justice in Palestine is focused on fostering the spread of protest encampments in academic institutions around the world. Within Our Lifetime is fixated on its spat with the New York Police Department and the group's accusations of police brutality after the Nakba rally on Saturday. Many members of the Shut It Down for Palestine coalition, such as the People's Forum and Palestinian Youth Movement, seem more interested in organizing and advertising the People's Conference for Palestine, scheduled for May 24.IfNotNow, an anti-Zionist Jewish group that used to make demonization of Israel more palpable but ancillary to the current protests, said on Instagram on Monday that the move was “a step towards accountability for the horrific violations of international law we have witnessed over the last several months.” Pro-Palestinian protesters protest against the visit by U.S. President Joe Biden to downtown Detroit, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Detroit, Michigan US, May 19, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/REBECCA COOK)Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, closely tied to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and more influential in the post-massacre protest movement, wrote extensively about the ICC announcement – but only to vehemently criticize it.In the same way that Jewish organizations criticized the ICC prosecutor who equated Netanyahu and Gallant with Hamas leaders for applying for the warrants of Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh at the same time, Samidoun was upset by the inverse.“For years, Palestinians have been demanding the indictment of Zionist officials. Any effort to put them on trial for their war crimes and crimes against humanity is important,” Samidoun posted on social media on Monday. “However, there is no equation to be made between the legitimate resistance of the Palestinian people and its leadership and the illegitimate Zionist colonizer. The attempt to equate victim & perpetrator is injustice, not justice.”Attacking the ICC for acknowledging Hamas's atrocitiesSamidoun added that the warrant application for Israeli leadership was more selective than that of Palestinians, and it attacked the ICC for accepting that Hamas and Gazans committed atrocities such as mass rape on October 7.It is possible that Samidoun is expressing a wider-held belief that the anti-Israel organizations don't want to accept the legitimacy of the ICC because it also means accepting the prosecution of “the resistance” and acknowledging the Gazan atrocities against Israelis.Yet Samidoun's other issues with the international legal forum might hold more sway over the thinking of these organizations.Samidoun alleged that the ICC is acting on behalf of Western powers to remove Netanyahu and replace him with an Israeli leader whom they can trust with Israel's survival.Khan “is not acting as a truly neutral prosecutor and is carrying out the directives of imperialist powers who would not accept any charges against the Zionist leadership without a 'both sides' clause,” said Samidoun. “It is further clear that the ICC is not an institution in which we can place trust, as evidenced by its own history and failures to hold accountable any of those responsible for the horrific attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan, the starving of Venezuela, etc. The ICC has served for too long as a weapon of colonialism rather than a tribunal of justice. We trust the revolutionary justice of the victorious Palestinian people.”Anti-Israel activists, who are just as anti-American in their aspirations as they are against the Jewish state, may not trust the ICC, seeing it only as another arm in the Hecatoncheires of the “US Empire.”They may genuinely believe, as they constantly chant, that “there is only one solution – intifada, revolution.” The anti-Israel groups may believe that the only acceptable outcomes are those achieved by their own hands or the Palestinians and will not accept measures that they believe do not lend to the destruction of the State of Israel.These positions cannot be confirmed unless the anti-Israel organizations comment in further quantity about the issue. In the meantime, the lack of commentary demonstrates that anti-Israel activist groups do not care about the ICC warrant applications.

Anti-Israel activist groups don't care about the ICC warrant applications - analysis

Anti-Israel activists may not trust the ICC, seeing it only as another arm in the Hecatoncheires of the "US Empire."

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Anti-Israel activist groups don't care about the ICC warrant applications - analysis

Anti-Israel activists may not trust the ICC, seeing it only as another arm in the Hecatoncheires of the "US Empire."

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