Israel Finds Out Who Its Friends Are

Compare the lineup of countries volunteering to arrest Israeli leaders with the much vilified pariahs who defy a Hague kangaroo court. Following the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants against Israel’s prime and defense ministers, Prime Minister Orban, oft-maligned, wrote that Hungary “strongly condemned this disgraceful decision.” Rather than threatening arrest, Mr. Orban invited Prime Minister Netanyahu for a Budapest state visit. Hungary, mind you, is an ICC member. So is Argentina, whose President Milei accurately called the Hague-based court’s move a “criminalization” of Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah and Hamas. Some global superpowers — America, Russia, Communist China, India — are not ICC members. In contrast, the court’s loudest cheerleaders, including Europe’s most self-righteous countries, went out of their way to praise its warrants. The European Union’s outgoing foreign policy czar, Josep Borrell, a critic of Israel, is calling on all EU members to arrest Mr. Netanyahu and the former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, if they come calling. The arrest warrants are a “significant step toward justice,” said South Africa. Pretoria gladly hosted Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir in 2015 despite an ICC arrest warrant against him. Canada, our neighbor and an ICC member, chimed in too. Everyone must “abide by international law,” Prime Minister Trudeau trumpeted. Note to anyone overly angry about the presidential election results: Before moving to Canada, make sure you are not in any way connected to America’s war to save Afghan women from the Taliban. The ICC has an open investigation into alleged American crimes there in 2003. The man the Toronto Sun calls “Mr. Cuff Guy” would nab you just like Bibi. Senator Graham vows to punish countries that cooperate with the ICC’s arrest warrants against Israeli officials. Americans “could be next,” the senator warns. His proposed legislation would not only sanction Hague officials. “If you aid and abet the ICC after their action against the State of Israel, you can expect consequences from the United States,” he writes. Yet we can’t help wondering whether such threats will work? After France’s initial statement — “Combating impunity is our priority” — its foreign ministry now “dampens” its response to the ICC, Reuters reports. Note that two thirds of the ICC’s budget comes from American allies: Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, and South Korea, respectively. As the greenback dominates the global banking system, Washington could feasibly block, say, Tokyo’s annual $26 million transfer to the ICC’s coffers.President Trump is as unpopular among European establishment types as Mr. Orban or Mr. Milei. President Biden, normally Euro-friendly, called the ICC move against Israel “outrageous.” We’ll see if he can, finally, prod Senator Schumer to bring the House’s sanction resolution against the ICC to a vote in the upper chamber. If not, Trump and world leaders long outcast by the smart set can bring down The Hague’s house of faux-legal cards.

Israel Finds Out Who Its Friends Are

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