LONDON: The Malaysian government yesterday called for the formation of an Israeli War Crimes Tribunal under the UN Charter, and that an International Criminal Tribunal for Israel (ICTI) be organized along the lines of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY).
“The establishment of ICTI,” stressed Malaysian Foreign Minister Rais Yatim, “should provide some small degree of justice to the victims of Israeli war crimes against humanity and genocide against the people of Palestine, just as the ICTY had done in the Balkans.”
Yatim was addressing a packed conference at the London Marriot Hotel on “Genocide in Gaza” jointly convened by the Malaysian Foreign Ministry and the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalize War (KLFCW), whose co-founder is former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed, arguably the most popular politician in the Muslim street. Perhaps it was both an irony and a coincidence that the conference was held just a stone’s throw away from the US Embassy, Israel’s staunchest ally and its largest arms and economic aid donor.
The main speakers comprised an interesting motley. Apart from Mahathir and Yatim, there were Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of Tony Blair and a prominent human rights activist; Cynthia McKinney, former US congresswoman and 2008 US presidential candidate for the Green Party; Tony Benn, former Labour minister and veteran anti-war campaigner; Sir Gerald Kaufman, veteran Labour MP and former aide to Harold Wilson; and Rabbi Aharon Cohen, leader of the Neturei Karta, an international body of Orthodox Jews united against Zionism.
They all had one thing in common -— they are united by their abhorrence of the savagery and injustice of the wanton Israeli attack on Gaza and the hapless Palestinian population there last December and January, and their effort to criminalize war.
Mahathir revealed that Malaysia would go ahead in starting the process to convene an Israeli War Crimes Tribunal in Brussels under due international legal process. This means that any trial process will only be triggered off when official complaints are received against named individuals, who will be afforded legal representation under international law and if necessary would be tried in absentia. The tribunal will consist of judges from Malaysia and other like-minded states.
Israel’s aggression in Gaza, he reminded delegates, resulted in the loss of 1,380 lives and injuries to more than 5,300 innocent Palestinians. This, he added, “is a genocide and violation of international law. Israel’s leaders and the military officers involved must be held responsible for their actions and must therefore be brought to justice.”
He stressed that even if the UN or the West, especially the US, the UK and the EU, reject the tribunal and any outcome, the tribunal would have a symbolic victory. And any Israeli politician or army officer “convicted” by the tribunal would become a “pariah individual” and would have to live with his conscience for the rest of his life.
Mahathir urged nations across the world to “make war a crime” and voters worldwide to vote only for politicians “who reject war as an instrument of policy.” This, he concluded, would prevent more Gazas happening in the future.
McKinney supported Mahathir’s clarion call and despaired over the stranglehold America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has over the US democratic process. No congressperson stands a chance of being elected, she suggested, if they do not sign an AIPAC pledge to support Israel and US military and economic aid to the Zionist state. As she found out, “political life becomes a torture” if any candidate refuses to sign the pledge.
Cohen, however, warned that although he agreed with Mahathir’s sentiments, in reality it would be difficult to legislate against war, because given human nature “it will still take place.” He urged to get to the root cause of the Israel-Palestine problem and through that to eliminate war. And the root cause is “the illegal establishment of the state of Israel in 1948,” which he urged must be peacefully dismantled so that the Palestinians can regain sovereignty over all of the holy land.
Benn expressed his distress over the continued blockade of Gaza and urged the British government to use its naval base in Cyprus to guarantee the delivery of supplies to Gaza.
In a passionate address, Sir Gerald, a prominent left-winger and a Jew himself, said, “It is heart-rending that the world does not seem to understand the continuing suppression of the Palestinians by the Israelis. What I find devastating is that the rulers of the major powers do not understand this by letting the situation rot. What I find tragic is that Israelis get transformed when they invade other people. The occupation has brutalized the occupiers. The degradation of Israel is almost in a way to the same extent to the brutalization they have imposed on the Palestinians.”
Until the Palestinian situation is resolved, he warned, “Israel will remain a brutal state”.
Sir Gerald, who has been called inter alia a Jewish self-hater and a Jewish anti-Semite by Zionists, said he had very little faith in and respect for the current crop of Israeli politicians. He urged new US President Barack Obama to understand that the country cannot be ruled by AIPAC, and urged his own Prime Minister Gordon Brown to impose an arms embargo on Israel. The only way Israeli intransigence will be stopped “is to say enough is enough.”
More disturbingly, he did not see any immediate hope for peace “unless Israel makes peace with its Arab neighbors.” And the chances of this happening especially with the current Netanyahu government, which has gone even more to the right than the Olmert regime, are very slim indeed.
