African court is a non-starter, try another gimmick to ‘fix’ the ICC
What you need to know:
- The AU has absolutely no power to consign the ICC into the dust heap.
- To get at the ICC, Kenya needs to be creative and look for an unlikely ally — Israel.
I wish Kenya luck in her dogged push for an African Criminal Court, her preferred alternative to the ICC.
I notice, though, that the majority of African Union members were not falling over themselves in support of the proposal at their summit last week.
There is also the question of cost, considering that foreign donors currently fund well over half of the AU’s budget.
The $1 million seed money Kenya pledged is not even enough to renovate Uhuru Kenyatta’s hotel properties in this country.
Let me give the Kenya government some unsolicited advice. And it comes with no moral pretensions.
As previously shown, the AU has absolutely no power to consign the ICC into the dust heap.
That power is exclusively held by the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council. No African state features there.
To get at the ICC, Kenya needs to be creative and look for an unlikely ally — Israel.
Common wisdom is that the United States is the world’s sole superpower. I beg to disagree.
The way the US government abjectly falls on its knees whenever Israel twists its little finger should tell you who is boss.
As it happens, the Palestinian Authority that speaks for Palestine recently gained observer status at the ICC.
This was despite Israel’s express warnings — faithfully echoed by the US — against the Palestinians applying for membership (Israel and the US are not members).
RED LINE
The next step Palestinians are contemplating is pushing for an ICC investigation of presumed Israeli war crimes in Gaza and the larger Palestinian territories. Israel has, without mincing words, drawn a red line on this.
Israeli red lines are never futile. Not when the US acts on them promptly and blindly. The US Congress has said it will cut $400 million of annual aid money it grudgingly extends to the Palestinians.
Israel has already frozen the $127 million in monthly remittances of tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinians. And there is a lot more by way of sanctions the US is ready to do to shield Israel from any International Criminal Court investigation.
One assumes the US and its little master will not be so bone-headed as to start raining bombs on Gaza should ICC launch investigation.
Still, there are plenty of other options they could take. They have the means to actively frustrate such an investigation and make it still-born. Should the Hague court foolishly insist on pursuing an investigation, it is not inconceivable that the US would move directly to dismantle the court.
Never, ever, underestimate America’s resolve to come to Israel’s aid at the slightest whim.
Often, this puppy love takes ridiculous forms.
During last year’s Israel-Gaza war, the US Federal Aviation Authority issued a routine alert to American airlines regarding safety at Israeli airports, which were threatened by Hamas missile attacks.
I remember watching an influential Republican senator from Texas called Ted Cruz fulminating on CNN against the alert, which he argued was akin to embargoing Israel.
Here was an elected American representative, known to have presidential ambitions, who was more than eager to go to bat for Israel rather than be concerned about the safety of American aircraft and lives.
He was actually threatening to move a congressional motion to punish the Federal Aviation Authority. I have no doubt whatsoever that it would have passed with an overwhelming majority had the FAA not capitulated.
So there you have it, Jubilee. All you need to do is egg on the AU’s good friend, President Mahmoud Abbas to persist in his quest for a war crimes investigation of Israel.
Forget the African Court. It can’t fly. Israel’s bark will have a more guaranteed result.
