Arrest warrants highlight nature of Gaza crisis: China Daily editorial – Opinion

As diplomats tried to broker a ceasefire, Israeli air strikes on central Beirut that killed at least 20 people on Saturday, the fourth Israeli attack on the Lebanese capital in less than a week, were widely seen as Tel Aviv’s response to the International A criminal court in The Hague on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The warrants charge the two with “crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least October 8, 2023, to at least May 20, 2024,” the day the prosecution applied for the warrants.

But the world has clearly seen that Israel not only continues to carry out ruthless military attacks on the Gaza Strip and weaponizes its control over humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees after May 20, but has also taken the initiative to spread the crisis to Lebanon, citing the threat from Hezbollah .

Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed more than 3,500 people since October 8 last year, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. The fighting has also displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population. Notably, the escalation, marked by persistent Israeli attacks on what is said to be a Hezbollah target in central Beirut, comes after US envoy Amos Hochstein traveled to the region seeking an agreement that would end months of fighting between Israel and Iranian-backed forces. battle group.

All signs point to the fact that since the Democratic Party’s defeat in the November 5 US presidential election, Netanyahu’s cabinet has become even more hell-bent on defying instructions from the Joe Biden administration and resisting international and domestic pressure to end military operations. . Israel’s War Cabinet is pursuing its own course to steer the Middle East crisis in its intended direction, at least until a new Republican administration is sworn in on January 20.

That Netanyahu’s office has said that the arrest warrants are essentially an attack on Israel’s right to self-defense is simply another attempt to blur the line between war crimes and the country’s rights to self-defense. It is also consistent with the Israeli leader’s long-term pattern of hiding his personal agenda under Israel’s national cause.

Although Israel is not a party to the ICC, Tel Aviv sharply condemned it and the investigation it launched into Israel’s “war crimes,” calling it “a political instrument in the service of the most extremist elements seeking to undermine peace and security.” and stability in the Middle East,” the Israeli side is concerned about the decisions of the ICC, which have already forced the Israeli leader to carefully plan the routes of his foreign visits in order to avoid arrest. Not to mention the moral pressure that has been put on Israel for its ruthless actions against the Palestinian people.

As a country that claims to “respect international law,” Israel must cease its brutality, which goes beyond the legitimate right of self-defense in international law.

On the Palestinian issue, China has always stood on the side of fairness and justice, as well as on the side of international law. China opposes all acts that violate international law, including international humanitarian law, and condemns any acts that harm civilians or attack civilian objects.

The ongoing conflict in Gaza has created an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. China supports any efforts by the international community that contribute to achieving fairness and justice and upholding the authority of international law regarding the Palestinian issue.

According to a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Beijing hopes that the ICC will maintain an objective and fair position, exercise its powers in accordance with the law, and interpret and apply the Rome Statute and general international law comprehensively and conscientiously, in accordance with uniform principles. standards to contribute to a speedy resolution of the Middle East crisis.

The ICC’s issuance of arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant is not “anti-Semitic,” as Netanyahu said. The court also issued an arrest warrant for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, head of Hamas’s armed wing, for actions related to the October 7 attacks on Israel that amounted to war crimes. The court’s decision is a damning indictment of Israel’s lawless bloodthirstiness unleashed by Washington.