***Official Political Discussion Thread***


International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas officials
By MOLLY QUELL

THE HAGUE (AP) — The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas officials, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity over their 13-month war in Gaza and the October 2023 attack on Israel respectively.

Netanyahu condemned the arrest warrant against him, saying Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions.” In a statement released by his office, he said: “There is nothing more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza.”

The decision turns Netanyahu and the others into internationally wanted suspects and is likely to further isolate them and complicate efforts to negotiate a cease-fire to end the fighting. But its practical implications could be limited since Israel and its major ally, the United States, are not members of the court and two of the Hamas officials were killed in the conflict.

Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have condemned ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for warrants as disgraceful and antisemitic. U.S. President Joe Biden blasted the prosecutor and expressed support for Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas. Hamas also slammed the request.

The three-judge panel issued a unanimous decision to issue warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant.

“The Chamber considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity,” the decision said.

The court also issued a warrant for Mohammed Deif, one of the leaders of Hamas, over the October 2023 attacks that triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza. The ICC chief prosecutor withdrew his request for warrants for two other senior Hamas figures, Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, after they were both killed in the conflict.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in September that it had submitted two legal briefs challenging the ICC’s jurisdiction and arguing that the court did not provide Israel the opportunity to investigate the allegations itself before requesting the warrants.

“No other democracy with an independent and respected legal system like that which exists in Israel has been treated in this prejudicial manner by the Prosecutor,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein wrote on X. He said Israel remained “steadfast in its commitment to the rule of law and justice” and would continue to protect its citizens against militancy.

The ICC is a court of last resort that only prosecutes cases when domestic law enforcement authorities cannot or will not investigate. Israel is not a member state of the court. The country has struggled to investigate itself in the past, rights groups say.

Despite the warrants, none of the suspects is likely to face judges in The Hague anytime soon. The court itself has no police to enforce warrants, instead relying on cooperation from its member states.

Even so, the threat of arrest could make it difficult for Netanyahu and Gallant to travel abroad, although Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is wanted on an ICC warrant for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, recently showed he could still visit an ally when he traveled to Mongolia, one of the court’s member states, and was not arrested.

Member countries are required to detain suspects if a warrant has been issued if they set foot on their soil, but the court lacks a mechanism to enforce its warrants.

Khan sought warrants in May, accusing Netanyahu and Gallant of crimes including murder, intentionally attacking civilians, and persecution.

In a statement at the time, Khan alleged that Israel “has intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population in all parts of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival” by closing border crossings into the territory and restricting essential supplies including food and medicine.

At the same time, he accused three Hamas leaders — Sinwar, Deif and Haniyeh — of crimes linked to the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and abducting another 250. The three leaders are accused of crimes including murder, extermination, taking hostages, rape and torture.

“The Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Deif, born in 1965, the highest commander of the military wing of Hamas (known as the al-Qassam Brigades) at the time of the alleged conduct, is responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder; extermination; torture; and rape and other form of sexual violence; as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture; taking hostages; outrages upon personal dignity; and rape and other forms of sexual violence,” a statement says.

Haniyeh was assassinated in what was believed to be an Israeli strike in Iran in July. Israel also claims to have killed Deif, but Hamas hasn’t confirmed his death. Sinwar, who was promoted to succeed Haniyeh as Hamas’ leader, was killed in a chance front-line encounter with Israeli troops in October.

Human rights groups have applauded the decision, which came more than six months after Khan made his initial request.

“The ICC arrest warrants against senior Israeli leaders and a Hamas official break through the perception that certain individuals are beyond the reach of the law,” the associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, Balkees Jarrah, said in a statement.

Israel’s opposition leaders fiercely criticized the ICC’s move. Benny Gantz, a retired general and political rival to Netanyahu, condemned the decision, saying it showed “moral blindness” and was a “shameful stain of historic proportion that will never be forgotten.”

Yair Lapid, another opposition leader, called it a “prize for terror.”

Yuval Shany, an international law expert at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, said travel for Netanyahu and Gallant to member states of the court could be complicated, including to countries that are close allies of Israel, like France or Britain.

As members, they are obliged to carry out court decisions, including arrest warrants, although the court has no formal way to enforce its decisions, Shany said — as Putin’s Mongolia trip showed.

The case at the ICC is separate from another legal battle Israel is waging at the top U.N. court, the International Court of Justice, in which South Africa accuses Israel of genocide, an allegation Israeli leaders staunchly deny. Lawyers for Israel argued in court that the war in Gaza was a legitimate defense of its people and that it was Hamas militants who were guilty of genocide.

In the wake of the Oct. 7 attack, Israel launched a retaliatory offensive into Gaza that has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who don’t say how many were fighters. It has displaced 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes and caused heavy destruction across the besieged territory.

Hamas is still holding around 100 hostages, about a third of whom are believed to be dead. Most of the rest were released in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a cease-fire last November.
 
osh kosh bosh osh kosh bosh

On the subject of the Democratic Party and trans people,

I don’t think you’re a transphobe. I think our disagree stems from very different estimations of two things:

1.) The number of swing voters that exist, who would swing from red to blue if Democrats simply decided to say that they are against trans women in women’s sports.

2.) How effectively Democrats can distance themselves from woke culture, at least in the eyes of voters who view EVERYTHING from Hollywood, HR departments, artists, academics, lesbian grocery co-opts, land acknowledgments, any woman with a nose ring, white guys with dreadlocks, coffee houses that play “the revolution will not be televised,” libraries that do pride month, vegan food pop ups, young women at a marketing agency in Australia making a goofy video, etc. through the lens of US partisan politics.


My contention is that group 1 exists but is very small and statistically insignificant as far as deciding elections go. The second group are a large plurality but not the majority, thank goodness.

The data that I’ve seen thus far, hasn’t indicated that there’s a decisive bloc who’d have given Harris the requisite votes to win if she had been more forceful in disagreeing with trans women playing girl’s sports or in disagreeing with other activists or causes.

There’s more data to come and perhaps your contention will be proven true. But thus far, I’m not seeing it. What I’ve seen from the data, thus far, has been Trump being able to turn out his base and Democratic turnout, for a variety of reasons, faltering, at least on the top of the ballot.

1. Again to be clear, it's not about this issue in specific, it's the idea that they are out of touch and interested in cultural issues over nuts and bolts of governing.

the trans sports thing is always the easiest example because it's the issues where the dems are furthest away from the public on.

2. I think lets try it and see what happens.

3. This election was a swing election, not a turnout loss. Kamala got more votes than biden in 6 out of 7 Swing states. Her turnout didn't collapse.




 
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nastiest cabinet of all time

qanon didn't die for this. :smh:
 

According to the report, the equivalent of 6.15m sq km (2.4m sq miles) is afflicted by fighting between or within states, meaning 4.6% of the world’s landmass is now affected by conflict compared with 2.8% in 2021, with the number of deaths in conflict rising by 29%. In total, 27 countries, including Ecuador, Colombia, India, Indonesia and Thailand, have experienced a significant increase in risk since on the CII since 2021.
 

I assume their goal is to make the govt more efficient since it’s in the name. What’s more useless than commuting to work everyday when it’s been proven you can do a lot of your work at home?

Man distanced himself from that racist guidebook during the campaign and hired its author 2 weeks post election. I give it 18 months before trump just comes out and says this country was built by and is for white people.
 
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A good breakdown of a progressive person going on a trump friendly podcast
and effectively countering right wing talking points without sounding culturally out of touch.
 
I love yall for still believing something is going to happen to these republican wackos. If you're white and one of them, nothing happens. The black freaky nudeafrica dude in North Carolina got canned, but people have been saying for years Gaetz is gonna get got. Just like Trump. And yet, nothing ever happens. They always get away.

It's just a blatant, in your face, bright shining unmistakable two systems of justice going on. I mean we've all seen the Chappelle skit, but I don't think any of us thought it would extend to literal child abuse.

It has.
I agree, and I do think the most likely path is that the right does not take a hard line and either still confirm or call fake news.

I am not expecting or waiting for the right to find a moral compass. I do feel that non action will have down ballot repercussions from a left candidate who can communicate the hypocrisy and lunacy a Gaetz appointment will mean.
 
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