France was among the first states that announced they would uphold the court’s decision, although officials have not explicitly said they would arrest Netanyahu.
However, the ministry on Wednesday alleged that Netanyahu is covered by immunity as a sitting head of government because Israel is not a member of the ICC. It is the first time a member of the court has argued this in Netanyahu’s case.
France’s argument was previously used by states that refused to arrest Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Omar al-Bashir of Sudan. But the court has consistently rejected those arguments as unfounded.
Because it’s the western world’s biggest aircraft carrier right in the middle of the Middle East. Everything in geopolitics is a strategic decision by everyone trying to get their slice and step on another.
We used to do that by invading and capturing territory from others, but that has fallen out of favor, so we use “diplomacy” and “soft power” to mostly get what we want. Russia and Israel didn’t get the memo.
They did get the memo. But just like Trump and his ability to walk all over everything and everyone without repercussions, they are basically saying, “Go ahead. Arrest the leader of a ‘free’ nation and see how quickly the illusion of stability crumbles.” They’re basically pressing the barrel of the other nation’s guns more firmly into their forehead like the “crazy” villain in every shitty action movie daring the hero to turn dark, knowing that if they pull the trigger, there will be a cascading sequence of destabilization and a shattering of the fragile state of “peace” the world has been going through since the end of WW2. Everyone knows we’re precariously perched on the edge of calamity and no one wants to be the one to push over the first domino. Everyone in power is profiting quite nicely and pretty much getting everything they want. There is no need for them to upturn this state in order to bring another political criminal to “justice.” This order won’t last much longer, but that’s because there are external forces like the impending climate collapse will force their hand, not because anyone will stand up and do the right thing. But because there are no other options left but to gamble on the future of this existing order.