Australia’s Largest Christian News Site

When Penny Wong and the Albanese government accept the biased and unconscionable arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the former Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, they are joining an alliance that supports terrorism.

While Israel condemned the decision, Hamas welcomed it. Oh yes, the ICC did seek to arrest a Hamas leader, too – but too late – he’s already dead.

“It is an unconscionable twisting of history and morality for the world community to take the most severe criminal prohibitions enacted in the wake of the Holocaust and now use them as a club against the Jewish state and people,” said ICEJ Senior Vice President David Parsons of ICEJ.

“The ICC’s abysmal decision to issue these arrest warrants against senior Israeli leaders is a moral test for every nation of whether they will accept the transposing of good and evil. The consequences of this grave error are chilling for the entire world.”

Losing faith in international systems of law

Following the Holocaust, the international community was so moved by the Nazi atrocities that they created new internationally supported entities, such as the United Nations, the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, to ensure such diabolical events never occurred again. Nations agreed to contribute to the work of these bodies which attracted the highest calibre experts in law, administration and humanitarian aid.

Sadly, over the decades, the system has completely broken. Corruption, political manipulation and lawfare have trashed the high ideals of their initial establishment.

According to Israeli commentator Caroline Glick:

‘The institutions formed in the wake of World War II to create and preserve a liberal, international rules-based order never worked the way they were supposed to work. But today, they are no longer simply feckless, corrupt and dysfunctional. They are malign and dangerous. Rather than advance freedom, human rights and life, they serve tyranny, terror and murder. The system is beyond repair.

The Accusations

The charges of the court against Netanyahu are extremely serious. The three-judge panel unanimously said that he and Gallant are “co-perpetrators for committing the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.

The judges also “found reasonable grounds to believe that they bear criminal responsibility” … “for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population”. The charges are also backed by the work of the International Court of Justice, which has found that it is “plausible” that Israel has committed acts in Gaza that violate the Genocide Convention.

Starvation as a weapon of war

The mask of respectability of the International Criminal Court is now removed. The arrest warrants claim the Israeli leadership has committed crimes against humanity, including using starvation as a weapon of war, even though there is no evidence of death by starvation of the population of Gaza. Israel has done everything possible to facilitate food aid going to those in need, but often, it has been stolen by the terrorists.

The Court gives no mention of the axis of evil attacking Israel on seven fronts. Where is the arrest warrant for Iran’s leadership, which openly states its intention to destroy Israel, a legitimate democracy and the only one in the Middle East?

Warnings to the civilian population

In a far-reaching analysis of Israel’s obligation to warn the civilian population of impending attacks, the Lieber Institute, West Point, concludes:

There is no question that the IDF’s warnings practice, in general, is the gold standard. Indeed, as a matter of policy, the IDF typically exceeds what the law requires. It is likewise clear that its warning to evacuate northern Gaza constitutes an “effective warning,” as that concept is understood in IHL [international humanitarian law].

This is in sharp contrast to Hamas’s failure to provide any warnings to the civilian population of Gaza and its efforts to neutralize the effectiveness of the IDF’s. That Hamas has violated its own warning obligation under IHL is simply indisputable.

That the International Criminal Court could conclude Israel’s leadership has deliberately murdered civilians has no basis in fact.

Standing in the gap for righteousness

In their accusations of Israeli leadership, the ICC made no mention of the October 7, 2023 massacre in which 1200 people were murdered and 251 taken hostage. Nor did they acknowledge Israel’s right to self-defence of its citizens and the relentless attacks it faces on seven fronts. Tiny Israel, a country of only 8 million people, surrounded by 400 million hostile neighbours, is forced to defend itself while the world looks on and criticises its every move.

One day, each of us will stand before a Holy God to give account of our actions.  Many nations, including Australia, will be severely judged for their role in falsely accusing Israel of the very crimes they once suffered at the hands of the Nazis, and now suffer at the hands of the evil proxies of Iran.

God is the same yesterday, today and forever. His promises made at the beginning of the Book are just as relevant today as when they were given.  He said to Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3:

I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you;

I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all people on earth will be blessed through you.

Israel, that tiny nation, is a great blessing to us. The Jews, despite their chequered history, gave us and preserved for us our Bible. Gave us our Messiah, Jesus. They have blessed the world with wisdom, knowledge and understanding. Are they perfect?  No. Nor are we. But we would do well to search the scripture and understand the great mystery of God’s plan for Israel and His plans for us.

Make no mistake. God is not mocked. If we fail to stand for righteousness and truth, there are consequences. May God have mercy on Australia, and may we, as Christians, be determined to stand in the gap and do all in our power to influence our nation to change its stance.

___

Image courtesy of Adobe.