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No, the International Criminal Court did not “acquit Israel of genocide charges”
- Richard Noury | Corriere Della Sera
- May 11
- 2 min read
Yesterday afternoon it started circulating the false report that “the International Criminal Court judge acquitted Israel of genocide charges”. It was also made viral by several Italian journalists who not only showed considerable ignorance of international law but also failed to what their duty should be: check with the original source.
There is not one thing right in that quoted sentence.
The “judge” is the procurator of the international justice body who deals with individual (and not state) responsibility for crimes under international law. He did not “acquit Israel of the genocide charge” for the simple fact that the Court did not initiate an investigation into the matter and therefore could not have reached any acquittal.
In an interview dating back five days, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan says that currently failed to file genocide charges against suspected perpetrators. As we know, prioritized allegations supported by a huge amount of evidence and its investigations led the Court to issue War crimes and crimes against humanity arrest warrants for current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Only Those desperately seeking a foothold to pardon Israel can claim that the phrase “I have not currently filed that charge” amounts to concluding that the crime of genocide did not occur. Indeed, as Prosecutor Khan specifies, “no crime is excluded if the evidence supports it”.
Genocide is the most complex crime to prove because it should be established that one or more of the five acts of genocide established by the namesake 1948 Convention has been committed with the intent (therefore, a subjective element) to destroy, in whole or in part, a group protected by the Convention.
Rightly, in the interview Prosecutor Khan argues that the Court's investigations they must not be conditioned by public outrage or media hype but they must be based on charges capable of holding up in court.
The false news about “Israel's acquittal on genocide charges” tells us a few things, beyond those highlighted at the beginning of this post.
It has been forgotten that, on the possible crime of genocide, it is making its assessments the International Court of Justice, the one that deals with disputes between states, on the basis of an action brought by South Africa against Israel for violation of the 1948 Convention.
It is then confirmed once again that unhealthy idea that, “if it's not genocide, it's nothing serious”. I arrest warrants for two fugitives Netanyahu and Gallant, for those who want to read them, they contain very serious accusations.
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*This article has been translated to English from its original Italian using online services.