So, as we discussed recently, the ICC hit Bibi Netanyahu with war crimes charges. Well, the Biden administration seem to be condemning the move with Anthony Blinken looking into sanctioning the court. And I have to rip this.
As you can see by the article, the official reason is over the fact that Israel has its own judiciary and that the ICC needs to mind its own business, but I think the sub text going on behind the scenes that was outed by the ICC itself is worth talking about. Essentially, they were told that the ICC "was made for Africa and thugs like Vladimir Putin." And this is where I really gotta come out swinging here.
One of the most important aspects of the rule of law, is that it is supposed to apply to everyone. What they're basically saying is the US and its allies are above the law, and no matter how badly an allied leader acts, we don't try them for war crimes.
This essentially undermines international law and the rules based order that the west promotes. It basically tells the rest of the world "rules for thee but not for me." It basically confirms what our enemies say in that international law is just a cudgel by imperialists against nations they dont like. And that undermines our moral authority on the world stage. What make the US led order superior to the rest of the world IS our morals, it IS the fact that we are supposed to be morally superior than those who are still in the age of rank authoritarianism and barbarism. And, yes, I understand that in practice, that the rules will apply to different countries differently. Simply having the enforcement arm be carried out by the countries with the biggest stick will lead to some double standards inevitably. But...we should try to avoid letting the facade drop so far that the moral authority of the west comes into question. This will just cause the third world to align with russia and china over us, because we're looking like a bunch of imperialist thugs ourselves.
And, I'm going to be frank, I'm not gonna be some super stickler for the rules either with the international order. I do understand that war is nasty, that it is unpleasant, and any time a war occurs, you're likely to get civilian casualties and collaterial damage. We clearly know Im not squeamish to the realities of war based on the amount of latitude I personally gave Israel initially on this blog. I mean I judge more on a good faith attempt to minimize casualties and try to be moral. I aint saying everyone is always going to hit that mark, and I'm not gonna be that guy who screams WAR CRIMINAL and encourages dragging people in front of the hague over literally everything.
But at some point, you gotta stop. And the world has to rein people in for going too far. Either through soft power or hard. And Israel has gone WAY past that point. The facade of them fighting a righteous war with casualties being inevitable fell MONTHS AGO by now. They are so beyond the pale that Netanyahu IS basically in the same ballpark as "thugs like Vladimir Putin." I dont see much difference morally between what Netanyahu is doing to Gaza vs what Putin is doing in Ukraine. I mean, sure, Bibi started out with a better moral pretext. But the actions speak for themselves and the amount of human rights abuses is OFF THE CHARTS bad. I mean, and this is where I draw the line, they're not even TRYING at this point. It's like "are you aiming for these people?" And of course, the answer is yes.
Joe, stop backing these guys. You're ruining our image to at this point. I understand maybe Biden feels the need to do this either to avoid the wrath of AIPAC (which is messed up in itself) or because he's afraid of losing to Trump if he does distance himself from Israel, but seriously, youre making us look bad.
Im not gonna not vote for you over this. I'm not even gonna take the self righteous stance that you shouldnt support Israel AT ALL, but for the love of god, stop playing interference for these guys and dying on your sword over this. Distance yourself from this guy. You KNOW, deep down, that you're in the wrong here. I know youre probably having intense convos behind the scenes over this.
At this point, if you cant outright condemn Netanyahu, at least back away and let the ICC do their job. Don't play interference or try to sanction the court for doing what it's supposed to do. This is ridiculous. You're on the wrong side of history here, and this is a major moral blight on your presidency.
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