Israeli courts cannot and will not prosecute Israel’s war crimes
Supreme Court President Esther Hayut (C) and Judges arrive for a court hearing, 14 March 2019
Taj Hussain and Laurent A Lambert write in Al Jazeera on 16 July 2024:
For over nine months now, the United States and other close allies of Israel have repeatedly defended the conduct of the Israeli army in Gaza and the West Bank. They have rejected or ignored accusations of genocide, torture, collective punishment and other war crimes and crimes against humanity, despite numerous reports by UN experts and human rights organisations detailing various atrocities.
In defending the Israeli army, Israeli allies often refer to the opportunity to seek justice for crimes in Israeli courts. In its response to International Criminal Court’s Prosecutor Karim Khan seeking arrest warrants for Israeli officials, the US State Department, for example, has claimed that the prosecutor did not defer to a national investigation first. The Israeli government has also made the same argument.
But a closer look at the Israeli judicial system reveals that such prosecution of justice for war crimes committed by Israeli officials is unlikely to yield results.
Israel’s legislative and judicial authorities do recognise international law and conventions. However, through legal exceptions, they also create spaces for the total disregard of international law by Israeli officials and security and military forces. This erodes the prohibitions from international law on matters of grave importance.