The lesson for Hamas resounds through Europe, the halls of the United Nations and world courts: Crime pays. Civilian atrocities pay even better.
There must be jubilation in the Hamas tunnels, as its remaining leaders hide underground while using their own civilians and Israeli hostages as human shields.
Their Oct.7 terrorist brutalities against civilians young and old were clearly designed to provoke a devastating Israeli military response in Gaza. The resulting suffering allows Hamas to win big on its cynical bet that the world will forget how it all started.
Just recently, a trifecta of rulings, resolutions and unilateral declarations from nations and world bodies has reinforced the message that terrorism reaps real rewards. Unlike the chants from college encampments, disrupted graduations, political figures hounded or bridges blocked, this symbolic step could have a serious effect.
For more than 30 years, the prevailing notion was that any path toward Palestinian statehood would come only through serious negotiation. But Hamas found a bloody terrorist shortcut. Spain, Ireland and Norway leapt over decades of peace negotiations to accept a Palestinian state — even though one has never existed. There’s also a major sticking point in that the Palestinian territories are governed by two different factions, with one lurking underground in Gaza. So whose state would it even be?
Still, the European troika marched in the international parade in condemning Israel and rewarding Hamas terror.
The U.N. recently held an overwhelming General Assembly vote supporting the notion of “Palestine” as a full member. This goes hand in hand with the U.N.’s long fixation on the Palestinian question while ignoring worse world crises.
Another U.N.-related body, the International Criminal Court (ICC), seeks to make Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and other senior officials global pariahs through indictments for war crimes. In what appears to be an attempt at equivalency, it is also seeking indictments against Hamas, equating its deliberately savage attacks on civilians with the tragic devastation resulting from Israel’s determined effort to neutralize underground terrorists in Gaza.
This linkage deservedly drew the ire of President Biden, who called it “outrageous. … Whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas.” Biden’s instincts as former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee took precedence over some Democratic concern about his longstanding support for Israel.
Whether or not the ICC formally issues indictments to arrest Israeli leaders, the move is already rebounding on the international court, galvanizing Israelis who had previously marched against Netanyahu. Israelis of all political stripes take it as a personal affront after enduring Hamas’s barbarism. Even the leading successors to replace Netanyahu have backed him against the international court.
Here in the U.S., the ICC prosecutor’s statement prompted an invitation from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to have Netanyahu address Congress. While this might not make some Democrats happy, such as Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, the court’s suggestion may reverberate another way; in fact, the prospect of charging Israelis for war crime may provide some rare bipartisan cooperation in Washington.
The Biden administration appears willing to work with Republicans in Congress seeking to punish the ICC for its extraordinary tactics. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) recently had this exchange with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“Will you support bipartisan effort to sanction the ICC, not only for the outrage against Israel but to protect in the future our own interest?” asked Graham. The answer was stunningly direct for a congressional hearing. “I welcome working with you on that,” Blinken said simply.
By rewarding Hamas barbarity, the European Nations, the U.N. and international courts may find their rash actions have unintended consequences, opening them to charges of bias.
Led by a chief justice who excoriated Israel as Lebanon’s U.N. ambassador, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a ruling seemingly aimed at curtailing Israel’s response to destroy the remaining Hamas stronghold in Rafah. Sen. Graham had a biting response: “The ICJ can go to hell. … Ruling that Israel should stop operations that are necessary to destroy four battalions of Hamas killers and terrorists — who use Palestinians as human shields — is ridiculous”
Hamas said it “welcomes the ruling.” Nothing more needs to be said when the terrorists cheer the international court.
As for Norway, Spain and Ireland, they once again find themselves on the wrong side of history; all these nations were at least once officially neutral during World War II in the fight against Holocaust Nazi Germany.
These nations, along with the U.N. and the international courts, also have ignored far worse international tragedies than Gaza. Their claims to Mideast moral superiority sit on very shaky high ground.
Lee Michael Katz (@leemkatz) is an award-winning journalist and author who has reported from more than 60 countries. A former senior diplomatic correspondent of USA Today and international editor of UPI wire service, his work was syndicated globally by the New York Times Syndicate.