The ICC Ruling and Israel
by Dr. Elior Kinarthy
The ideals and initial leadership of the International Criminal Court was established under the United Nations to investigate objectively and prosecute the most serious crimes of concern to the international community-the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The creation of the ICC was approved by more than 60 countries at the United Nations General Assembly at a conference in Rome in July 1998. The USA and Israel strongly objected to the creation of the ICC because they believed the court was not set up with scientific, objective and legal methods of investigation. The International Criminal Court then became an independent organization and appointed their own judges.
Recently the ICC declared that the leaders of Israel, (the only democracy in the Middle East) have committed genocide. The ICC has also accused the Hamas leaders of genocide. Hamas murdered 1,200 Israeli children, women and men and kidnapped 200 Israeli citizens on October 7, 2023. With this ruling, comparing Israeli leaders with Hamas terrorists, the ICC has given “moral equivalency” to terrorist acts. In spite of their lack of legal credentials, the ICC sees itself as a legitimate court and have requested a visit to Israel to “investigate”.
How do organizations like the ICC end up corrupted, with biased judgements? In my opinion, they have not lived up to their original ideals and fortunately their rulings have little legal effect. Great organizations have leaders that follow established ethics found in the Bible and the US constitution for example. These innovators often have a superior intellect, a unique consciousness, and they can sense in their followers and competitors an affinity for cooperation.
An example of great leadership is the historic peace agreement between Egypt and Israel. The stage for peace was set when Egypt waged three wars against Israel and lost territory, and then during the fourth war they won a little self-respect back with a small victory. As a psychologist studying personality traits, I believe that Anwar Sadat’s father must have been a strong leader and Menachem Begin reminded him of his father’s best characteristics. Begin was influenced by Sadat to give back the Sinai to Egypt and to make peace. This is a good example of a great leader being created by a follower-Begin was the follower! Their personalities were very compatible and this matching of principles, goals and ideals in leadership is very rare.
Currently, President Joe Biden is trying to bring about a peace agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel. In my opinion, Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel are not compatible in their personalities or their aspirations as leaders. Perhaps it will take a change in government and a more opportune time when Israel is not waging a war, to reach agreements with Saudi Arabia. We hope that this tumultuous and stressful time in history will lead to peace with more courageous and insightful leaders in the months and years ahead.