SOUTH AFRICA FM CALLS OUT ICC

In one month, Israeli air strikes have killed more than 10,000 Palestinians, including more than 4,200 children. Yet, the one body charged with prosecuting war crimes hasn't spoken up. That would be the International Criminal Court (ICC). South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor calls out the glaring double standard by comparing the ICC's silence to its response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In the latter's case, the ICC issued an arrest warrants on 17 March for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.

The court has long been accused of being a tool for Western imperialism, as seen in its selective application of justice. Its 51 defendants overwhelmingly have not been white, with the exception of Putin and Lvova-Belova, as well as Serbia’s Slobodan Milošević, who died before sentencing, and three South Ossetian officials. However, these countries do not count as being part of the global hegemonic alliance.

In the age of social media, evidence has been produced daily on the impacts of the 7 October escalation in the 75-year conflict between Palestine and Israel. There is no shortage of videos of distraught children, parents and siblings carrying their dead loved ones in the aftermath of Israeli bombings. Human-rights organizations, countries and the United Nations, have condemned the killings. Yet, not a single word from the ICC.

Pandor spoke on 7 November outside the South African National Assembly with freelance reporter Athi Mtongana.

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