A UN Gaza genocide report, dead on arrival

The world’s worst-kept secret is that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

- Ravi Nair

The latest report of the UN Commission of Inquiry is substantive reconfirmation of this truth. It is telling that the report amounted to little at the recent United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session that saw intense debates involving world leaders on the state of Gaza.

However, it is important to look at some of the recommendations in the UN report and its implications, The report asked the government of Israel to immediately end the commission of genocide in the Gaza Strip and comply fully with the provisional measures outlined by the International Court of Justice in its orders of January 26, March 28, and May 24, 2024. Arrest warrants had been issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant on November 21, 2024. In the past 10 months, these leaders have visited, or are scheduled to visit, countries such as Hungary, Argentina, the Czech Republic and Romania, countries that are signatories to the international law, without fear of arrest. France, as usual, dithers, stating that Netanyahu will not be arrested while he is in office. The US, of course, is beyond the pale with its support for the Netanyahu regime. It has, in fact, sanctioned judges and prosecutors of the ICC and Francesca Alba-nese, the UN's special rapporteur for human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Article 27 of the Rome Statute explicitly states that official capacity as a head of State or government, member of a government, or parliamentarian does not exempt a person from criminal responsibility nor does it constitute a ground for reducing a sentence. This provision establishes that no immunity shields individuals from prosecution before the ICC, regardless of their position.