Starmer Has Taken Leave Of His Senses!

Right, so Keir Starmer has been pathetically silent on the small matter of that pesky arrest warrant issued against Benjamin Netanyahu by the International Criminal Court, particularly curious given his background as a lawyer, especially a human rights one, but then a lot of us on the actual left think, given his conduct as a politician, as Labour leader and as Prime Minister, that his belief in human rights only extended as far as it paid well. Now that part of his career is over, we’re seeing the reality, a guy who got where he is with the backing of pro Israel interests and as such owes far too much to them and his policy decisions will always reflect that, so we should not be surprised that he has seemingly taken leave of his senses and is now seeking to undermine the authority of the ICC by trying to wriggle out of responsibility over those arrest warrants.
He's hardly alone in coming to this position, but for the sake of Israel the sanctity of the Rome Statute is put at risk, not just by him, others too and Starmer seems to think he’s worked out a way of doing it, whilst absolving himself of blame, the cowards way out if you like, by placing the onus on our courts. If he had a spine and if he was a truly independent PM and not bought and paid for, we could perhaps believe him when he said he respected the ICC and it’s remit, his actions say the opposite.
Right, so Keir Starmer there, talking all big about hunting Russians down and bringing them before the International Criminal Court, but when it comes to Israel, not so much eh! He is now seemingly following in the footsteps of others, like the sheep he is, looking for an out to appease Israel and not automatically arrest Benjamin Netanyahu or Yoav Gallant if they set foot in this country. Let’s also remember here that a Hamas leader, Mohammed Deif, also has an ICC arrest warrant out for him – do you think Starmer would hesitate to arrest him? Such is the hypocrisy of where he has placed himself now, throwing the courts under the bus to absolve him of any responsibility on the matter, choosing to duck for cover whereas other leaders have more overtly said they will not arrest Netanyahu, so in that regard Starmer is even more of a weasel than some of them are, but it also continues to damage him in the eyes of the British public.
The basic gist of Starmer’s position is that if Netanyahu were to visit the UK, and that’s a big if, generally our politicians go running to him anyway and it’s even less likely now, but if he did, UK courts would consider a case of immunity for him when deciding on whether or not to enforce the ICC arrest warrants. This is a complete waste of time, a total nonsense, because whatever court has to deal with this pathetic farce, will simply point to the International Criminal Court Act of 2001, enshrined in law under Tony Blair of all people, and that’ll be the end of the argument, because this is a very simple piece of legislation.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) Act 2001 incorporated the core crimes of the Rome Statute into UK law, with the exception of the crime of aggression. These core crimes are: genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The latter two are what an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu was issued for, so it is open and shut. Starmer is making a prat of himself completely, but assuming public ignorance on such matters, with the media failing to draw attention to this very simple fact, this very simple legal mechanism, which Keir Starmer absolutely will be aware of and if he isn’t again, that makes you wonder what kind of lawyer he actually was.
Ultimately Netanyahu isn’t going to come here, so the whole arrest scenario is largely a moot point, yet Starmer is continuing to make a meal of it and you can argue there is pressure possibly from Israel, given the Downing Street spokesperson who explained this to the media, also refused to confirm or deny any conversations between Number 10 and Israel had occurred, so we can assume yes then?
There’s another good reason to assume pressure has come to bear though, if we look at the other nation that has recently announced that it will not uphold the ICC arrest warrant, after saying they would, which is France.
Now France don’t have an ICC Act like the UK does, but rather than defer to courts like Starmer has opted for, Macron has just out and out declared that Netanyahu has immunity in France on the basis that they don’t recognise the ICC’s jurisdiction in Israel because Israel is not signed up to the Rome Statute.
We now know that France WAS leaned on by Israel, involved as they have been in the Israel Lebanon ceasefire, France and the US now being arbiters of any complaints made by Israel during this ceasefire and in order to get this ceasefire done and dusted and signed off on, a ceasefire, which is actually just a 60 day truce in actuality, Israel made a French declaration of immunity a condition of the ceasefire passing.
Quds News Network have covered this, an excerpt reading:
‘Israeli officials highlighted France’s position on granting Netanyahu immunity following an ICC warrant over war crimes in Palestine as a critical factor in finalizing the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, according to the Wall Street Journal.
France, alongside the US, is tasked with overseeing the ceasefire. However, Israeli sources revealed that Israel initially opposed France’s involvement in the monitoring committee. The concern was that Netanyahu could face arrest during a potential visit to Paris following an ICC warrant over his war crimes in Palestine.
In May 2023, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes and crimes against humanity in relation to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
France’s Foreign Ministry had suggested that Netanyahu might have immunity, as Israel is not a signatory to the ICC’s Rome Statute. The ministry confirmed that such immunities apply to Netanyahu and other relevant Israeli ministers.
Despite this, a senior French official clarified that any arrest decision would ultimately rest with a judge, should the ICC request it.’
France is effectively opening a Pandora’s Box here. ICC arrest warrants are non-negotiable, they are not bargaining chips, they are to be enforced by nations signed up to the Rome Statute. By doing this, every other arrest warrant issued against people from nations not signed up to the ICC are voided as well. That’s Vladimir Putin, because Russia is not signed up to the Rome Statute, there is news out today that Chief Prosecutor at the ICC Karim Khan is seeking an arrest warrant for Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing on charges against humanity and war crimes against the Rohingya, Myanmar is also not a signatory nation, but jurisdiction is established, because the crimes against the Rohingya, in part, took place on Bangladeshi territory, and Bangladesh is an ICC member state. It doesn’t matter how little that might have been, that’s enough and it should put into perspective this nonsense excuse that Netanyahu is somehow immune from prosecution by the ICC, because Israel isn’t a member state. You can’t have exceptions and the exception is trying to be forced through, because certain nations don’t recognise a Palestinian state, like the UK, like France, but that is irrelevant. The ICC has established jurisdiction, that is all that matters. The UN have recognised Palestine as an observer state since 2011, they have been signatories of the Rome Statute since 2015, what is that worth if they aren’t protected by it? It doesn’t matter if certain nations don’t recognise the State of Palestine, they are recognised as such by the ICC, and that really is that.
Starmer is attempting to do the same thing, jumping on the bandwagon of others to stand by Israel and not international law. It wouldn’t stand up, more people need to know about this and it needs putting to Starmer that his nonsense about immunity in British Courts, wouldn’t be entertained for longer than it takes to say International Criminal Court Act 2001, gavel down next case. Stop embarrassing us, stop shaming this nation and if you can’t because you’re compromised then get out of the way, you’re wasting our time and energy.
Of course don’t let that stop you, you can go for any reason you like, this petition that has been going around shows how much of the British public would like to see the back of you, though as with all online petitions questions have been asked about who has really signed it, yet it might be about to be debated in parliament after all. Check out the details of that story in this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch and I’ll hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.