Gaza impunity a Western 'moral failure': Italian expert

ISTANBUL

Luigi Daniele, a senior lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, criticized the ongoing impunity surrounding crimes in Gaza, describing it as a "reflection of the West's moral failure."

"This is a process that lasted more than a decade," Daniele said in an interview with Anadolu, referring to the Palestinian Authority's engagement with the International Criminal Court (ICC) since 2015.

"It took way too long to arrive at this moment, and I of course evaluate it positively because it's a massive shift, considering the traditional exceptionalism and impunity surrounding Israeli crimes," he said.

On Nov. 21, 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes related to the Gaza conflict.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on Gaza.

Daniele, who teaches and researches in International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law at Nottingham Trent University, argued that quicker action from the ICC could have prevented the tragedy unfolding in Gaza.

"One fundamental ingredient of this catastrophe of the Gaza genocide has been impunity, a persistent impunity that has allowed international crimes to become normalized as state policies," he told Anadolu.

Netanyahu and Gallant face the risk of arrest if they travel to any of the 124 countries that are parties to the Rome Statute, which established the court.

The ICC's recent move requires these member states to enforce the arrest warrants.

"These states have ratified the Rome Statute, which means they have legal obligations to execute the arrest warrants," Daniele explained.

The Italian legal expert added that the warrants should also lead to the "moral and political outcasting of the suspects," though he noted that this is not happening.

Daniele criticized Western governments for embracing "probable crimes against civilians in Gaza as if they were normal."

He accused them of perpetuating ‘colonial supremacy,’ stating, "After hundreds of years of colonialism, Western politics is once again considering an entire population, victims of mass atrocities, as a sort of new normal."

Daniele criticized U.S. President Joe Biden's recent remarks in which he rejected the ICC's decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli officials.

Biden, earlier stated that "whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence - none - between Israel and Hamas," adding that the U.S. will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.

"This is one of the most concerning and alarming expressions of Western moral bankruptcy and ignorance," the legal expert said.

He explained that the laws of war apply equally to all parties and warned that excusing war crimes undercuts democratic values.

Daniele concluded by lamenting the decline of democratic principles in Western foreign policy, saying, "There was a time when being a liberal-democratic state was incompatible with mocking international legality and the principle of equality before the law."

"Not anymore. Western states have descended into a form of normalized tribalism."

Luigi Daniele warned that the legal community risks being remembered as the generation that enabled this decay.

"The judgment of history will be merciless," he said, "stronger than any judgment delivered by any international court of law."