{"id":55516,"date":"2024-05-21T16:21:56","date_gmt":"2024-05-21T16:21:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/21\/gazans-say-i-c-c-prosecutors-pursuit-of-hamas-leaders-is-misguided\/"},"modified":"2024-05-21T16:21:56","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T16:21:56","slug":"gazans-say-i-c-c-prosecutors-pursuit-of-hamas-leaders-is-misguided","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/21\/gazans-say-i-c-c-prosecutors-pursuit-of-hamas-leaders-is-misguided\/","title":{"rendered":"Gazans Say I.C.C. Prosecutor\u2019s Pursuit of Hamas Leaders Is Misguided"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/20\/multimedia\/20mideast-crisis-icj-lgck\/20mideast-crisis-icj-lgck-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Gazans Say I.C.C. Prosecutor\u2019s Pursuit of Hamas Leaders Is Misguided\" title=\"Gazans Say I.C.C. Prosecutor\u2019s Pursuit of Hamas Leaders Is Misguided\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Palestinians in Gaza expressed mixed feelings after the chief prosecutor at the world\u2019s top criminal court said he was <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/20\/world\/middleeast\/icc-hamas-netanyahu.html\" title=\"\">seeking arrest warrants<\/a> for leaders of both Israel and Hamas on war crimes charges, a move that many said equated victim with perpetrator.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe deplore, denounce and are surprised by the decision of the International Criminal Court which places the accused, the victim, and the executioner in one cage,\u201d said Zahir Essam, a 55-year-old living in Gaza City.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/21\/world\/middleeast\/karim-khan-icc-prosecutor.html\" title=\"\">Karim Khan<\/a>, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, announced on Monday his decision to apply for arrest warrants for Yahya Sinwar, Hamas\u2019s leader in Gaza; Muhammad Deif, Hamas\u2019s military chief; and Ismail Haniyeh, the movement\u2019s Qatar-based top political official. He also said he would seek warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of Israel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The announcement in effect treated Israeli officials and Hamas leaders in the same way, despite what Mr. Essam sees as a power imbalance between the two sides in the conflict in Gaza, which began when Hamas led an attack on Israel on Oct. 7.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That attack killed about 1,200 people, and about 240 others were taken hostage, Israeli officials say. Israel\u2019s retaliatory war in Gaza has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gazan health authorities, though their figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many Palestinians view the Oct. 7 attack as a justified response to Israeli violations during the decades-long Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe Palestinian people are defending their most basic human rights and fighting against an occupation and the harshest form of abuse,\u201d Mr. Essam said in a phone interview. He added that he was surprised that the prosecutor would consider \u201cthose who defend their rights and their homeland\u201d as equal to \u201cthose fighting them with an array of weapons and aircrafts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Israel, the warrants drew the reverse response, with Mr. Netanyahu denouncing the prosecutor\u2019s decision as a \u201cdistortion of reality\u201d and defending the war in Gaza as one of self-defense. For now, the announcement is largely symbolic. Israel does not recognize the court\u2019s jurisdiction, and judges can take months to uphold requests for arrest warrants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Jaber Yahia, a 50-year-old teacher from central Gaza, said that he was relieved by the naming of Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant. \u201cI was thinking, finally they will be brought to justice,\u201d he said. But after hearing that warrants would also be sought for leaders of Hamas, his relief was muddied.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe are under occupation and resistance is a legal right for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Nidal Kuhail, a 30-year-old waiter from Gaza City who was displaced to Rafah, said that he had hoped that the international community and its legal bodies, such as the court, would have first ordered a cease-fire to end the deadly Israeli bombardment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe first step was supposed to be a mandatory and immediate stop of the war,\u201d Mr. Kuhail said in a phone interview. \u201cAnd then bring Gallant and Netanyahu to trial because they committed war crimes documented with evidence,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Seeking warrants for Hamas leaders, by contrast, was \u201ca wrong decision,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Abu Bakr Bashir<!-- --> contributed reporting from London.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/21\/world\/middleeast\/gaza-icc-prosecutor-warrants.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Palestinians in Gaza expressed mixed feelings after the chief prosecutor at the world\u2019s top criminal court said he was seeking arrest warrants for leaders of both Israel and Hamas on war crimes charges, a move that many said equated victim with perpetrator. \u201cWe deplore, denounce and are surprised by the decision of the International Criminal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/20\/multimedia\/20mideast-crisis-icj-lgck\/20mideast-crisis-icj-lgck-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3451,5552,40427,6118,54770,18090,8988],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55516"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55516"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55518,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55516\/revisions\/55518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}