But from the ruins of impunity and lawbreaking, a group of nations is working to enforce accountability.
asserted
group → work → accountability
On Monday, the UN general assembly’s high-level meetings opened to news that Washington had drawn up sanctions against the international criminal court, targeting its bank accounts, software, insurers and staff.
asserted
Washington → open → accounts
On Tuesday, the US president stood at the podium and threatened Iran with annihilation.
asserted
president → stand → annihilation
On Thursday at the same rostrum, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, wanted by the ICC for war crimes, cast all those seeking accountability as “barbarians who threaten our common civilization”.
asserted
who → want → civilization
Palestinian officials were absent, denied travel visas by the United States.
asserted
officials → deny → States
Netanyahu has never pretended to respect international law.
asserted
Netanyahu → pretend → law
When South Africa brought its Genocide Convention case against Israel’s actions in Gaza, Netanyahu declared: “Nobody will stop us – not The Hague.”
asserted
Nobody → bring → us
This summer, he mused on American television that, should his plane ever be forced down in a country that honours the warrant, Israel’s special forces could be given “a new task”.
uncertain
forces → muse → task
The American president has promised he will not be arrested on US soil “in any way, shape, or form”.
asserted
he → promise → way
The message to the world is plain: crimes committed by the allies and acolytes of power will never be punished.
asserted
crimes → commit → power
This impunity is not limited to Gaza.
asserted
impunity → limit → Gaza
It’s playing out in the accelerating ethnic cleansing of the West Bank.
asserted
It → play → Bank
It has travelled to Lebanon, where Israeli strikes have killed more than 4,000 people this year and displaced more than a million.
asserted
strikes → travel → million
In southern Syria, Israeli troops shell and raid villages in the countryside around Damascus.
asserted
troops → shell → Damascus
In Sudan, massacres are carried out with arms, technology and financing of the United Arab Emirates, an ally of the Israeli government.
asserted
massacres → carry → government
Every commander with a patron has learnt the lesson of the past three years.
asserted
commander → learn → years
Mass atrocity carries no price if your friends are strong enough.
asserted
friends → carry → price
States that resist encounter punishments in dizzying varieties – sanctions, tarriffs, threats and isolation.
asserted
that → resist → varieties
South Africa lost US aid after bringing its genocide case to The Hague.
asserted
Africa → lose → Hague
Colombia’s president had his visa revoked after speaking out on Gaza in the streets of New York.
asserted
visa → have → York
This too will not remain confined to the global south.
asserted
This → remain → south
Instruments built for terrorists and drug cartels are now pointed at judges.
asserted
Instruments → build → judges
More than a dozen ICC judges and prosecutors, including the court’s president, already live under US sanctions.
asserted
judges → include → sanctions
A designation of the whole institution would reach every European bank, insurer and technology supplier serving a court that sits in the Netherlands.
asserted
that → reach → Netherlands
Tools like these, once deployed, are never put back in the drawer.
asserted
Tools → deploy → drawer
Governments in Europe that shrug today should ask how long before the same instruments are turned on their regulators, their competition authorities, their own courts.
asserted
instruments → shrug → regulators
What can countries do?
asserted
countries → do → What
History points to some answers.
asserted
History → point → answers
In 1962 the general assembly created a special committee against apartheid in South Africa.
asserted
assembly → create → Africa
Newly independent states from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, dismissed at the time as marginal, pressed for arms embargoes, oil embargoes, sporting boycotts and divestment.
asserted
states → dismiss → embargoes
In 1977, the security council imposed a mandatory arms embargo on Pretoria.
asserted
council → impose → Pretoria
Within two decades, the regime was gone: rendered unsustainable by the force of the national liberation struggle at home and in exile – and because enough states, acting together, raised the cost of its crimes.
asserted
states → go → crimes
We are not lacking for legal clarity.
asserted
We → lack → clarity
The international court of justice has found Israel’s occupation unlawful and instructed every state not to aid or assist it.
asserted
occupation → find → it
The general assembly gave Israel 12 months to end it; that deadline passed a year ago.
asserted
deadline → give → it
The court has ordered provisional measures under the Genocide Convention, and the ICC has issued its warrants.
asserted
ICC → order → warrants
What we need is the courage to act.
asserted
need → need → What
States must use every tool at their disposal: halt arms and dual-use transfers, deny port access to military cargo, review public contracts and investments tied to the occupation – arrest the criminals and protect the legal officials.
asserted
States → use → officials
On Friday, ministers and representatives from 40 states gathering at UN headquarters for The Hague Group’s Extraordinary Meeting in Defence of International Law will do just that.
asserted
ministers → gather → that
No single capital can absorb that pressure alone.
asserted
capital → absorb → pressure
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
