In this week’s Update we address the International Criminal Court (ICC) joining the international community’s tradition of unfairly targeting Israel, the Palestinian people’s less than great choices in their upcoming (maybe) election, and try once again to end with a bit of good news.
Not so Breaking News: Another International Institution is anti-Israel
Last week, the ICC, predictably, decided to investigate Israeli and Palestinian actions transpiring in the disputed territories since June 13, 2014. First, let’s talk about the significance of that date. One might think it’s worth noting that directly before that day, three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered by Palestinian terrorists.
Just as the Palestinian national movement ignores most of human history by refusing to acknowledge the Jewish people’s ancient connection to the Holy Land, the ICC will ignore more recent history in order to ensure the Palestinians are not held to account for their unconscionable actions. This decision gives a clear indication of where the ICC’s investigation is headed.
Also worth noting: the ICC doesn’t actually have any jurisdiction to engage in the probe. As State Department spokesman Ned Price noted,
“Israel is not a party to the ICC, and it has not consented to the court's jurisdiction and we have serious concerns about the ICC's attempts to exercise its jurisdiction over Israeli personnel.” Further, in a call between Prime Minister Netanyahu and Vice President Harris, the Vice President expressed “the American administration’s complete opposition to the decision of the prosecutor of the ICC in The Hague.”
We commend the Biden administration for taking the position that the ICC is “unfairly” targeting Israel, and we hope the President will maintain the sanctions currently in place
against relevant ICC officials.
Dictator or Terrorist?
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been in office for about 16 years. He was elected to a 4-year term, and then never left. In July, in theory, the Palestinians will have the
opportunity to elect a new president or re-elect (if we can so abuse the term) Mr. Abbas. Abbas is corrupt. He is a Holocaust denier. And he was the right-hand-man for the notorious terrorist Yasser Arafat.
One would hope that his main rival then would be an honest partner for peace with the Israelis. It isn’t. His most potent rival, Marwan Barghouti, is serving 5 consecutive life sentences for murder. Before being arrested, Barghouti was the leader of
a Palestinian terrorist offshoot of Abbas’s Fatah party responsible for numerous attacks against innocent Israeli men, women and children.
The lack of political space for new and responsible Palestinian leadership to rise is a feature, not a bug, of the Abbas kleptocracy. Until the U.S. and Europe focus on reforming the Palestinian civil society, they will likely continue to be stuck with the worst possible choices: a corrupt dictator or a convicted murderer.
Some Good News
We can’t always promise to end on a positive note, but last week’s decision to do so was well received, so we’re going to try to do so again. This week’s good news comes from the great state of Utah where last Friday the State House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed that state’s CUFI-backed anti-BDS law. The Senate had previously passed the bill unanimously, so it now heads to the desk of Governor Spencer Cox.
In the press release announcing CUFI’s reaction to the news, Pastor John Hagee noted, “CUFI’s more than 65,000 members across the state of Utah and 10 million members around the country warmly welcome the overwhelming support this bill received in the Utah State Legislature. We must ensure the anti-Semitic movement to boycott the world’s only Jewish state receives no quarter in any state in the Union and Utah is doing its part.”
We are working to pass similar measures in several states around the country this year and will keep you updated on those efforts as well.
Sincerely,
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