TThe fate of one French judge is an example of the long collapse of the West. Nicolas Guillou can't shop online. When he used Expedia to book a hotel in his country, the reservation was canceled within hours. He is “blacklisted from most of the world's banking system” and cannot use most bank cards.
You see, the US sanctioned Guillou, putting him on List of 15,000 people along with al-Qaeda terrorists, drug cartels and Vladimir Putin. Why? Because, along with two other judges of the First Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court, he approved arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Mohammed Deif, a former commander of Hamas's military wing. Guillou and his colleagues “actively participated in the illegal and baseless actions of the ICC against America or our close ally Israel.” USA stated when sanctions were introduced in June. Everyone is now banned from entering the US – but this is the least of the consequences.
The rationale is very clear. The rule of law does not apply to the world hegemon or his closest allies. This was stated bluntly by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who told ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan (who was himself sanctioned): that the ICC was “created for Africa and thugs like Putin, not for democracies like Israel.” The US refused to join the trial, apparently fearing that its penchant for committing war crimes in foreign countries would lead to prosecution. This puts Washington on par with human rights violators such as China, Russia and even Israel. It is only because Palestine joined the court ten years ago that the ICC now has jurisdiction over crimes committed on its territory or by its citizens.
Guillou and his colleagues issued the warrants after a lengthy and careful legal process. The case against Israeli politicians centered on the use of fasting, which Israeli leaders regularly admitted to. Gallant announced a “total blockade of the Gaza Strip” on the grounds that Israel was fighting “human animals” while Netanyahu said: “We will not allow humanitarian aid in the form of food and medicine from our territory into the Gaza Strip.” Spring 2024Two US government agencies have concluded that Israel is deliberately blocking humanitarian aid, an assessment that under US law requires a halt to all arms transfers. The US government ignored its own law.
The destruction of the Gaza Strip, the indiscriminate killing of its inhabitants, the systematic attacks on civilian infrastructure—we could go on—has led to a consensus among genocide scholars that Israel is committing genocide. But for the United States and its allies, maintaining Israeli impunity matters more than preserving any semblance of international order. Nearly four decades ago, then-Sen. Joe Biden told Congress that Israel was “the best $3 billion investment we made”, arguing that “if there were no Israel, the United States of America would have to invent Israel to protect its interests in the region.” The US views Israel as an irreplaceable strategic asset, which is why it is the largest recipient of aid in history. US foreign aidincluding military assistance. Washington will continue to supply weapons that enable Israel to commit war crimes and then threaten anyone who tries to bring those responsible to justice.
Other Western countries followed the US example. Italy is a member state of the ICC, but decided to undermine the court assuring Netanyahu that he would not risk arrest if he attended. France did the sameand since then it has failed to protect one of its citizens for fulfilling his legal duties while serving the international institution that France helped create. Shouldn't core liberal principles include the international rule of law and the impartiality of justice?
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Western liberals are divided between justifying or whitewashing Israel's live-streamed genocide, or spreading empty, hand-wringing platitudes. All that remains of this political tradition is buried in the destroyed landscape of Gaza. Much of the world has witnessed daily Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people – including in the United States itself. where is half the population believe that genocide was committed, and only slightly more than a third deny this. Who will ever again accept Western lectures on human rights or “rules-based order”?
Time and time again, the West's disdain for international law has resulted in strategic disaster. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, US elites convinced themselves that American military power was unquestionable. That belief helped unleash the illegal invasion of Iraq, which shattered Washington's aura of invincible power and undermined the West's supposed moral authority. The disregard for international law shown in Iraq helped clear the way for Putin's subsequent aggression against Ukraine. In Afghanistan, war crimes carried out by US-led forces sparked an outrage that resuscitated the Taliban and ended in crushing military and strategic humiliation.
The international legal system has always been tilted in favor of the West. That South Africa dared to accuse a key Western ally of genocide in an international court speaks for itself, as does the support it has received from much of the global south and European states such as Spain. The same logic applies to the ICC, which many Western states assumed would only be used against their enemies or powerless countries. That this assumption is no longer true is itself an indication of the decline of the West. Campaigning against judges who consistently apply the law will not arrest this fall. This will speed it up. The West's arrogance has led its power into free fall in the 21st century. There's still a long way down.
