‘Yes, Democratically Elected Elected Leaders Can Commit War Crimes’
Sanders calls out those who oppose international warrants against Netanyahu
Sen Bernie Sanders is calling out the hypocrisy of those who support international efforts to hold Russian leader Vladimir Putin accountable for war crimes, but oppose the same for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister.
The Vermont progressive independent — and two-time presidential aspirant — also demolished Netanyahu’s own defense.
A prosecutor with the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor this week announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli leaders amidst the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
Specifically, the prosecutor is seeking arrest of Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh, for war crimes and crimes against humanity that they committed during the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel that left more than 1,100 Israelis dead and scores others taken hostage.
He also is charging that Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant committed war crimes in the Israeli military operations that began after that attack.
In all, nearly 36,000 Palestinians have been killed — mostly young children and women.
Netanyahu condemned the effort to arrest him, as did most US officials.
Sanders, however, said that the prosecutor’s work should be supported.
US officials, including President Biden, backed the work of the ICC when it declared Putin a war criminal for his conduct of the invasion of Ukraine, Sanders noted.
“In my view, Mr. Putin is in fact a war criminal,” Sanders said. “Mr. President, we live in a world of increasing division, tension, and hostility. Around the globe, countries are dramatically increasing their military budgets. More countries are attempting to gain nuclear weapons and other dangerous weapons systems. It is in times like these that we most need international law. Without it, we will have an even more violent world where might makes right and where war criminals can act with impunity.
“In recent years, the ICC has attempted to hold governments and political leaders accountable for crimes against humanity. That is what they do, and that is what they are supposed to do,” he added. “All wars are terrible, and very often civilian casualties are unavoidable. But after the horrors of the second World War, countries throughout the world came together to try to establish rules to govern the conduct of war and to limit civilian casualties. The ICC’s role is to enforce these limits.”
The Hamas leaders cited by the ICC committed war crimes, but so has the Netanyahu government, subsequently in Gaza, Sanders said.
“Now, many people here in the Beltway, in Washington, have responded negatively to this decision from the ICC prosecutor. It seems that some folks here were comfortable with what the ICC did in terms of Putin and in terms of Sinwar, but not with Netanyahu. Some have argued that it is unfair to compare the democratically elected head of the Israeli government to Putin, who runs an authoritarian system, or Sinwar, the head of a terrorist organization,” he said. “But that is not what the ICC has done. In fact, the ICC prosecutor has looked at what each of these leaders has done – looked at their actions – and then compared those actions to established standards of international law. In other words, the ICC is not making some claim of equivalence, as some have charged, but is in fact holding both sides in this current war to the same standard.”
Sanders also rebutted Netanyahu’s own defense, in which the Israeli leader claimed “democratically elected leaders” cannot commit war crimes.
“Yes, democratically elected officials can commit war crimes. Let me repeat: democratically elected officials can commit war crimes,” said Sanders, who himself is Jewish. “The ICC is doing its job. It’s doing what it is supposed to do. We cannot only apply international law when it is convenient.”
Sanders’ remarks can be watched here.
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