Wars and foreign interference. Facts to keep in mind towards the 2024 European elections
European elections 2024, the requests of the European network 'Health is not for sale'
25 May 2024
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1th June 2024
For the leaders of Hamas the request for arrest in the international arena was taken for granted, but that a request was filed by the Hague prosecutor's office against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant was unimaginable. Prosecutor Khan said he had requested arrest warrants for the prime minister, his defense chief and three Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes.
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said that it is necessary to demonstrate that international humanitarian law, the fundamental basis for conduct during conflicts, applies to all individuals and applies equally in all situations faced by its office and by the court, because the lives of all human beings have the same value and the same dignity. If the request is accepted, the arrest warrant will be issued and will become enforceable.
The ICC charges
Netanyahu and Gallant they oversaw the Israeli offensive in Gaza following the horrific October 7 massacre planned and executed by Hamas and other affiliated groups. The three leaders of the fundamentalist movement are the recipients of the greatest number of charges: Yahya Sinwar, head of Hamas in Gaza, Mohammed Al-Masri, the commander in chief of the military wing, Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas Political Office. Hamas leaders are accused of being responsible for crimes of extermination and murder, hostage-taking, torture, rape and other acts of sexual violence.
The accusations against Netanyahu and Gallant include responsibility for deliberately starving civilians as a method of warfare, intentionally causing great suffering, and intentionally killing civilians.
Israel: 'disgusting parallel'
From Tel Aviv the reaction was furious.
The leader of the opposition Yair Lapid called the decision a disaster. Benny Gantz, former army general, centrist leader who joined the national unity government and seen as the predestined to replace Netanyahu, defined the request for the arrest of the prime minister and Gallant as a "crime of historic proportions".
Gallant stated that Israel does not recognize the court's authority. And he stressed that the parallel between Hamas and Israel is disgusting and that Prosecutor Khan's attempt to deny Israel's right to self-defense must be totally rejected.
Criminal methods
The power of attorney of the ICC responds that Israel, like all states, has the right to act to defend its population.
This right, however, does not exempt Israel or any other State from the obligation to respect international humanitarian law.
Regardless of the objectives military forces that can be prosecuted, the means chosen by Israel to reach them in Gaza, intentionally causing death, starvation, great suffering and serious injury to the body or health of the civilian population, are criminal.
The deafness of those who don't want to hear
The US protests and Blinken says, like Gallant, that his country rejects the equation of Israel with Hamas and that such an equation is shameful and unacceptable.
Herzog too, the Israeli president, and our country's foreign minister Tajani affirm the same concept.
But sources in The Hague However, they reiterate that there is no comparison between Israel and Hamas, and that, as the prosecutor's note explains, the charges are distinct and different. In particular, Israel is accused not of the reaction against Hamas, but of having repeatedly violated the principle of distinction, precaution and proportionality, in the legitimate military response.
United States, Biden's ambiguity
The US presidentJoe Biden says the International Criminal Court prosecutor's request for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is scandalous. And he also insists that there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas and what is happening in Gaza is not genocide.
Biden's position is curious: on the one hand he says he supports the non-violent protests of university students in favor of the ceasefire and the dignity of the Palestinian people, but he continues to send weapons to Israel which he uses to kill Palestinian civilians, he has vetoed the ceasefire several times the focus on the UN Security Council and on the stable recognition of Palestine at the UN and condemns the ICC decisions on the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for crimes against international law.
Trump instead he pushes Congress with the goal of Biden sending even more weapons to Israel. It is dramatic that the greatest military power in the world finds itself choosing the future president of the United States between these two eighty-year-old figures and mythomaniacs...
Divisions and silence in the European Union. The Spanish case
A spokesperson of the External Action Service of the European Commission recalls that, in the conclusions of the European Council of June 2023, the 27 countries of the Union agree to respect the independence of the ICC and whoever signed the Rome Statute has the obligation to respect the his sentences.
The government of Madrid recognizes the crucial work, independence and impartiality of the ICC following the request for arrest orders against the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, and various Hamas leaders.
The Spanish Minister of Culture also called for severing trade, economic and political relations with Israel, after the ICC prosecutor's office called for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
But Europe once again the exhibition is divided or remains silent. Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, writes that France and Germany support the ICC, but disapprove of the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.
China's appeal
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said prosecutor Karim Khan's request was deeply unnecessary and would change nothing to ensure a pause in the fighting.
China, through the spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that he hoped that the International Criminal Court would maintain an objective and impartial position, calling for an end to the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
For the USA the ICC is valid only against enemies
The head of the PentagonLloyd Austin said the United States will work with the International Criminal Court on war crimes in Ukraine despite disagreement over his arrest call for Israeli leaders accused of crimes against international law.
The USA they deny the legitimacy of the International Criminal Court and threaten this organization with sanctions, through the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, when it speaks against the interests of Washington and its "friends".
At the same time, shamelessly use this tool, against those they consider "enemies", and are prosecuted by the Court for crimes against humanity.
This recognition by the ICC when it pursues “enemies” and its denial when it pursues “friends” is unfortunately one of the many double standards that reveal the hypocrisy of the West and the lie that war brings with it.
The recognition of the State of Palestine
Representatives of Ireland, Norway and Spain, meanwhile, announce that they will recognize the State of Palestine starting from May 28, 2024.
Israel's response was immediate through his Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who summoned the envoys of Ireland, Norway and Spain, pointing out to them that in this way they have decided to award a gold medal to the murderers of Nazi Hamas.
France for now he is backing away from recognizing Palestine, making it known that it is not the right time.
But the recognition of Palestine it is fundamental to start a peace process, as is the recognition of Israel and these processes should be started in parallel, urgently and without political games, because they represent the cornerstones on which to found a serious peace process.
Two-state solution, but without recognizing one
The American National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, in a briefing at the White House regarding the recognition of Palestine by some European countries, states that each country is free to decide on the issue.
President Biden's position is clear: the United States continues to support a two-state solution. This pronouncement also leaves something to be desired as one of these two states, Palestine, is not recognized by the United States and recently the USA vetoed the UN Council for the stable inclusion of Palestine within the Nations United.
How can you support the two-state solution if you don't recognize one of the two?
In the West Bank as in the Native American reservations
We can't pretendFurthermore, not to see that Israel's policies over the last 20 years have so fragmented the territory of the West Bank, with the settlement of 700.000 Israeli settlers, as to force the Palestinians to live in areas separated from each other, not communicating and making it almost the establishment of two states is impossible.
To give you an idea, Israel has copied and is completely copying the method adopted by white Americans with the indigenous Indians, reducing them to live in increasingly limited, controlled and isolated reservations.
The ICC's requests to Israel
All 15 judges of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, unanimously, accepting the request presented by South Africa, ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in the Rafah area, as the humanitarian situation in Rafah has further worsened and has become disastrous.
The Court of Justice It also orders Israel to present a report on the measures adopted within a month, as there is no evidence regarding the reassurances provided by Israel on the safety of civilians, such as on the access of humanitarian convoys to the Palestinian population.
The Judges they also asked Tel Aviv to reopen all border crossings to allow the unrestricted entry of aid, as well as any UN commission, mission or investigative body to investigate allegations of genocide.
Retaliation on Rafah after the sentence
A few minutes after the reading of the sentence, warplanes from Tel Aviv launched a series of attacks on the Shaboura field, in the center of the city of Rafah: the lapidary comment of the "moderate" Benny Gantz, a minister of the War Cabinet, is that Israel is forced to continue fighting everywhere, including Rafah.
According to Ben Gvir, Minister of National Security and exponent of the far right, the Court of Justice is “anti-Semitic” and should have only one answer: the occupation of Rafah, the increase in military pressure and the complete destruction of Hamas, until the achievement of complete victory in the war.
Meanwhile, we continue to die in Gaza, but also in the West Bank, an unnoticed war is being fought where Israeli forces are launching regular operations to destroy houses, demolish roads and dismantle basic infrastructure, wrote Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.
Death and destruction in Ukraine and Russia
Even in UkraineUnfortunately, the war continues to claim hundreds of victims and wounded every day, especially in the trenches, but often also among civilians both on one side and on the other, in the silence of a European community that only knows how to talk about weapons, combine only the verb win and is capable of condemning only unilaterally, blinded by the logic of a "holy" war against absolute evil.
According to Reuters, news obviously to be verified, four high-level Russian sources have declared that Putin can fight for as long as necessary, but is also ready for a negotiated ceasefire that recognizes the current battlefield lines, to freeze the war. But on the European and Western front, silence is complete and oblivion reigns supreme.
There is no emphasis to these words and pretends not to hear. But there's worse.
NATO drags Europe into war
Orban reports that working groups are underway in Brussels to organize direct NATO participation in Ukraine, to prepare Europe for entry into war.
And Stoltenberg he asks Europe, along Blinken's line, to remove Ukraine's veto from hitting targets in Russian territory and still asks for weapons because Ukraine can still win. And it calls on Europe, as already made clear by Blinken in his visit to Xi Jinping, to take a position against China, as it is responsible for selling components to Russia for building bombs and missiles, as if NATO were selling sweets and sweets to the Ukrainians.
Poor Europe now militarized, how low you have fallen! Our country opposed Stoltenberg, unlike other Nordic countries, but it is difficult to say whether this choice is dictated by a serious afterthought or whether it is linked to electoral interests, considering that in 27 months of war Italy has always accepted without blinking an eye to raise the level of conflict with the supply of increasingly powerful weapons and has always supported war and weapons as the only solution to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.
Erase history
Furthermore, it seems that Macron, after having invited Russian representatives to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings, had second thoughts under pressure from the USA, some allies and Great Britain.
The latter he even admonished France for receiving the Chinese president and sending a representative to Putin's inauguration, suspecting that Macron's intention is to set himself up as a mediator in the war in Ukraine.
Regardless of the "interferences" external (very heavy that of the United Kingdom which is not even part of the EU), the result of this operation is to erase 26 million victims of the Nazi-occupied Soviet Union. This gives an idea of the political and cultural decadence in which we are living.
Georgia under attack
Let's also try to delve deeper on what is happening in Georgia, a former state of the USSR and an objective, old or new, of NATO together with Ukraine.
In these days Parliament has voted a law which provides that all companies, including media and NGOs, will have to be registered as "subjects pursuing the interests of a foreign power" if they receive more than 20 percent of their funds from abroad and therefore undergo checks.
Approval of this law led the EU to declare that Georgia is thus distancing itself from the European Union and the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the United States will implement a revision of the terms of its cooperation with Georgia and will introduce visa restrictions for “those who put democracy at risk” in the South Caucasus state, including those linked to the proposed foreign influence law.
The 'liberticidal law' already exists in the 'Western democracies'
Regardless that this continuous interference by Europe and America in the choices of sovereign states with this attitude of blackmail, which divides and only creates useless conflicts, is incomprehensible, it is necessary to consider that similar laws have existed in the USA since 1938, in Russia, in Great Britain from 2023 and the European Commission recently presented a bill that goes in the same direction.
We are in the usual paradox: if "enemy" states adopt controls to limit foreign influences, they trample on citizens' rights and democracy; if "friendly" states adopt similar measures, they do so to protect the information system and NGOs from alleged foreign interference.
The decadence of the rich world
Just so we don't forget the decadence of the rich world, the Italian Overshoot day occurred on May 19, 2024, the day of overexploitation of the planet's resources, the day from which we begin to use the following year's resources. And of the next generations.
A year ago the day fell on August 2nd: this year we anticipated the Overshoot by almost two and a half months. We consumed everything that was available to us so as not to burden the ecosystem and the resources available for future generations.
But here too let's close our eyes and pretend nothing happened: the favorite sport of Europe and our country, while the abyss approaches. The important thing is to produce weapons and fuel endless wars, without ever talking about its consequences on people's lives and on the earth.
Let's not forget June 8th and 9th it is absolutely important to bring to the Union Parliament men who know how to bring Europe back to its founding values: peace and cooperation between peoples, the dignity of people and of the land, in the repudiation of war as a tool for the resolution of international disputes . These instances are at the heart of program by Dario Dongo, founder of Égalité, candidate in the North-East for the Peace, Earth, Dignity movement.
Francesco Masut
