By Hassen Lorgat
The most recent killing of a Hamas military political leader Yahyar Sinyar on October 16, who replaced the political head Ismail Haniya in August 2024, clears the way for the ICC to prosecute Netanyahu and his defence minister, only. Haniya and his bodyguard were assassinated by Israel whilst he was attending the inauguration of the Iranian President Masaoud Pezeshkian as president of Iran at the end of July 2024.
Israel’s army also claimed that they killed Hamas’s top military commander, Mohammed Deif, in an air raid in southern Gaza on July 13. Whilst Hamas has not confirmed this, on 1 August the X under the name Israel Defense Forces celebrated thus: We can now confirm: Mohammed Deif was eliminated.
The Israeli regime released a drone taken video of Sinwar’s killing and last moments. They were hoping that the image of the dead figher’s remains was a trophy but it seems to have backfired. For a year, the Netanyahu regime peddled the lie that Sinwar was in the tunnels surrounded by Israeli captives yet we see him with an AK47 rifle, keffiyeh, and in military fatigues. This confirmed to many of his supporters that he welcomed martyrdom in the struggle against zionist oppression.
The axis of resistance has been dealt a severe blow with the assassination, including of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in September 2024, and Zionist supporters are pleased with themselves. But it is important to note that in the struggle for liberation, other leaders are always ready to step in. Nasrallah stepped into the shoes of Abbas Al-Musawi who was also assassinated by the Israelis on 16 February 1992. The Israeli regime seems to be pleased with themselves, yet the question is: should they be pleased?
In the first quarter of this year – at last -, the ICC stated that it wanted to bring all violators of human rights law before court. Pro Palestine justice organisations had asked him to charge the Zionist cabal but the ICC prosecutor was afraid. After Netanyahu has eliminated his co-accused, now he is the only one who must face global justice, rightly alongside his defence minister.
On May 20, 2024, chief Prosecutor Karim A.A.Khan read out the filing applications for warrants of arrest of a few people relating to the events in the state of Palestine. He started with the Palestinians… it was easier to sell the case to the Western powers by presenting himself as an evenhanded and fair somebody. He began reading, as if the accused were standing in the court in front of him:
Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri (Deif), Ismail Haniyeh
“On the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Yahya SINWAR (Head of the Islamic Resistance Movement (“Hamas”) in the Gaza Strip), Mohammed Diab Ibrahim AL-MASRI, more commonly known as DEIF (Commander-in-Chief of the military wing of Hamas, known as the Al-Qassam Brigades), and Ismail HANIYEH (Head of Hamas Political Bureau) bear criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of Israel and the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 7 October 2023.”
The first of the list was Extermination as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(b) of the Rome Statute and the others… which can be read here. He ended his tentative charge sheet by calling for the immediate release of all hostages taken from Israel and for their safe return to their families. This is a fundamental requirement of international humanitarian law.
Having painted the Palestinians in a corner, he turned to those who seem to be untouchable: Benjamin NETANYAHU, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav GALLANT, the Minister of Defence of Israel. Khan said they bear “criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 8 October 2023.” And he listed a number of points which the media often forget to spell out in full, thus:
- Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Statute;
- Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health contrary to article 8(2)(a)(iii), or cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
- Wilful killing contrary to article 8(2)(a)(i), or Murder as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
- Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime contrary to articles 8(2)(b)(i), or 8(2)(e)(i);
- Extermination and/or murder contrary to articles 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(a), including in the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity;
- Persecution as a crime against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(h);
- Other inhumane acts are crimes against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(k).
These assassinations, ordered by Benyamin Netanyahu, have cleared the path for Kariem Khan to end his equivocation and false balance or bothsidesism. The warrant must now be put into effect to those who are alive, Gallant and Netanyahu. Whilst Khan is at it, he should entertain the killing of Haniyeh, who was on a state visit in a third country. But why stop there?
If he has more guts to spare, he should include the killing fields of Lebanon. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati said that Israel intentionally targeted a municipal meeting in the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, killing the mayor Ahmed Kahil and five or fifteen others. In response, the UN’s special coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert called the killing of mayor Ahmad Kahil “alarming” and said any violations of international humanitarian law were “completely unacceptable”. Western media for once were concerned about the killings of non combatant politicians aligned to a political party. This mayor was in a Hezbollah supported neighbourhood.
The Palestinian leaders spoken of here, like most of the population, have been displaced from 1948 and in this new phase of war upon them. They are carrolled to move to places of safety and then become easy targets. Currently, the killings of women, children and non combatants are the majority amongst the 42 500 dead Palestinians since October 2023. We must not forget the 99 546 wounded and 10 000 that are missing according to The Palestine Chronicle.
Ismail Haneya was born in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza after his parents fled Asqalan – a city now known as Ashkelon – after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Coincidentally, the leader who replaced him had his land too incorporated into what Israel calls Ashkelo. Yahya Ibrahim Hassan Sinwar was born in 1962 in the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza. His family originally hails from the city of al-Majdal, which also now forms part of Ashkelon in southern Israel, from which they were forcibly displaced in 1948.
The assassination of Haniyeh took place whilst attending the inauguration of the Iranian President Masaoud Pezeshkian as president of Iran at the end of July 2024.
This infuriated Tehran who were forced to dramatically respond on xx
but many Western leaders remained numb. On his death, the movement decided to elect the military leader Yahya Sinya who was a revolutionary combattant and presumably the organiser of the al Aqsa Flood, that has challenged western media standards of justice, accuracy, and fairness. Hamas confirmed his death while engaged in battle in Tal as-Sultan, Rafah, on 16 October 2024
Many regard Sinyar as a martyr, but that is for another article. What I want to argue is that Israel has become more unhinged than normal and the double speak from the Western Nations is a defacto green light to continue with the genocide.
We must look at the history of assassination of leaders, scientists, poets, writers, footballers and ask, does it work? Over the years, Israel’s elimination of Palestinian leaders it regarded as enemies has only fueled the cycle of revenge. Take the case of Hassan Nasrallah, he replaced an assassinated leader and went on to lead Hezbollah for 30 years. Many argue that this did not weaken the resistance as, with the renewed leadership under Nasrallah, Hezbollah became a feared entity and won back land from Israel making him more than a shia leader in Lebanon, but a national one. A new leader is likely to follow in his footsteps in more ways than one.
The Western powers supply arms and other resources to fuel the killing machine and we cannot rely on them. The road is clear for the ICC to act, but will they?
Meanwhile, the people in these territories resist and the global citizenry keep on protesting Israel’s occupying military and airforce. Targeted by snipers and bombs, journalists, poets and creatives from Shireen Abu Akhleh, Ghassan Kanafani and Alareer, they spawned new forms of resistance that we witness in all areas of life. Their deaths flowered these new forms of resistance…
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