Rebuking The Washington Post For Whitewashing Genocide

The Post's Editorial Board has done a disservice to journalism, to human rights, and to international law. Read on as I dismantle each of their propaganda claims—with receipts.

After refusing to endorse a Presidential candidate last month, the Washington Post Editorial Board (“The Post”) published their encore abdication of duty by defending Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu against an ICC arrest warrant. “The ICC is not the Venue to hold Israel to account” the editorial board proclaimed. I took the time to carefully read their argument, hoping for some semblance of fact or truth in their words. What I found was a poorly written, illogically argued, propaganda piece full of deceptive omissions, out of context claims, bizarre contradictions, and flat out lies.

“Democracy Dies in Darkness” is apparently no longer the The Post’s slogan, but instead their mission statement. The Post’s Editorial Board has done a disservice to journalism, to human rights, and to international law. Below I dismantle each of their arguments one by one, with receipts, and provide the facts that they refuse to cite, let alone acknowledge. I’ve written this rebuttal to maximize clarity and understanding with the following simple strategy:

• I produce The Post’s remarks in block quotes.

• I follow those block quotes with my detailed rebuttal.

Without further delay, Let’s Address This.

ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan (left). Credibly accused war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu (right) [GPO screenshot]

The Washington Post Editorial Board headline condemning the ICC for prosecuting Netanyahu

The Post begins their Editorial with the above headline and the following introduction:

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons and waged a bloody campaign of ethnic cleansing in his brutal suppression of an uprising that has killed half a million people, many of them civilians.In Myanmar, military dictator Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and his army have been responsible for bombing civilian villages in its war against the long-persecuted Rohingya minority. And in Sudan, a new potential genocide threatens the Darfur region’s Black Masalit people at the hands of Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is known as Hemedti, and his Rapid Support Forces.

The Post lists numerous known dictators and war criminals and the mass atrocities and genocide they’ve committed or enabled. This appears to be an attempt to accuse the ICC of hypocrisy, because the ICC has apparently not issued arrest warrants of those whom the Post lists. Thus, The Post concludes its initial argument with the following statement:

So who does the International Criminal Court wish to arrest for war crimes? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant.

A cursory look at the facts dismantles The Post’s attempt to paint the ICC as hypocritical for two reasons. First, The Post ignores that the same ICC warrant that charges Netanyahu and Gallant, also charge three Hamas leaders for similar war crimes. Notably, this lie by omission becomes the Post’s defining strategy throughout their editorial. Second, The Post hides from its readers the extensive work the ICC has done to hold accountable the dictators and despots it lists.

The ICC and Russia

The ICC issued arrest warrants for Vladamir Putin in March of 2023, well before 10/7. Joe Biden praised the decision and called upon all member states to enforce the warrant.

The ICC and Syria

The Post next cites Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the well documented list of his war crimes. Syria is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which means that the ICC does not have direct jurisdiction over al-Assad. Notably, Israel is also not a signatory to the Rome Statute. The Post cites that fact as a reason to condemn the ICC’s move to arrest and prosecute Netanyahu. But while The Post uses that argument to protect Netanyahu from ICC prosecution, apparently that exact logic does not seem to work for al-Assad. The Post never bothers to explain its contradiction.

The Post also does not address that despite lacking jurisdiction over Syria, the ICC has conducted fact finding missions and is receiving evidence to build the case against al-Assad. And while there are perfectly legitimate criticisms of the ICC for not moving more aggressively to prosecute al-Assad (criticisms I share), it is disturbing to see The Post’s double standard on Netanyahu vs al-Assad, and The Post’s lie by omission on the work the ICC has done to build the case against al-Assad.

The ICC and Sudan

The third example of alleged hypocrisy The Post cites is regarding Sudan. The Post hopes readers don’t realize that since being sworn into office in June, 2021, ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan has visited Sudan multiple times to speak with survivors. And literally among his first orders of business after being sworn in was in July 2021, when the ICC advanced charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity on 31 counts against Ali Muhammad Abd-Al-Rahman and committed him to trial—all brought forth by prosecutor Karim Khan. Thus, under Karim Khan, the ICC has literally already prosecuted war crimes in Sudan—yet The Post fails to mention this altogether. Instead, they condemn the ICC for not yet bringing charges against against General Hamdan, again ignoring that the ICC is also already working on that case as well. As ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan reported in August of 2022:

In my meetings with the Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the Deputy Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, I was clear that full cooperation was now required from the Sudanese authorities in order to progress the cases concerning the remaining suspects in the Darfur situation and ensure the Ali Kushayb trial marks the beginning of a process towards broader justice. [emphasis mine]

The August 2022 announcement then details the specific actions being taken against those committing war crimes, including General Dagalo, and what steps the ICC is taking to protect vulnerable communities. All tangible acts The Post ignores to help them push their absurd defense of genocide by Netanyahu.

The ICC and Myanmar

The final example of alleged hypocrisy The Post cites is regarding the Rohingya genocide. Once again, The Post deceptively hides from readers that the ICC has been building a case against Myanmar General Min Aung Hlaing for years. And in fact, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan is literally pursuing an arrest warrant against the General for war crimes, sexual violence, and genocide against the Rohingya. What more does The Post demand, I wonder?

Thus, of the four examples The Post cites of alleged ICC hypocrisy, the ICC is already seeking to arrest Putin, is investigating al-Assad, has already arrested and prosecuted for war crimes in Sudan and is continuing to investigate new war crimes, and is already seeking the arrest of war criminals in Myanmar. The Post hides all of this from its readers in a series of grotesque lies by omission.

The Post continues:

Israel is not a member of the ICC, and the warrants will have limited practical effect, except possibly preventing Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant from traveling to countries which have pledged to enforce it. 

As mentioned earlier, The Post defends Netanyahu as immune from prosecution because Israel is outside ICC jurisdiction, and then condemns the ICC for not prosecuting al-Assad despite Syria being outside ICC jurisdiction. Likewise, it appears The Post ignores or did not bother to read the authority the ICC cites in charging Netanyahu and Gallant. A quick read of the ICC’s statement demonstrates that clear authority and jurisdiction the under international law to charge Netanyahu and Gallant:

At the outset, the Chamber considered that the alleged conduct of Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant falls within the jurisdiction of the Court. The Chamber recalled that, in a previous composition, it already decided that the Court’s jurisdiction in the situation extended to Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that during the relevant time, international humanitarian law related to international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine applied. This is because they are two High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and because Israel occupies at least parts of Palestine. The Chamber also found that the law related to non-international armed conflict applied to the fighting between Israel and Hamas.

The Post does nothing to refute these facts. Perhaps this is because they do not understand international law, or because they hoped their lie by omission would go unnoticed, or perhaps a combination thereof. Most likely, The Post knows the ICC has authority, and is not willing to admit the facts at hand as doing so would undermine their entire case.

The Post continues:

We say possibly because countries in the past have promised to uphold ICC arrest orders only to ignore them when convenient. Several European countries and Canada have suggested they would uphold the latest arrest orders; others have balked.

Of the 125 countries that are ICC members, The Post specifically calls out South Africa, alleging that South Africa is a country has ignored ICC arrest warrants. Notwithstanding the implicit racism in targeting South Africa alone, The Post once again lies by omission to its readers. While it is true that a party in power in South Africa attempted to ignore an ICC arrest warrant and withdraw from the ICC, The Post ignores that the South Africa Supreme Court overruled the political attempt to disregard the ICC warrant and upheld South Africa’s obligations to the ICC. In doing so, South Africa affirmed its obligations to the ICC, and to this day remains a committed member. The Post ignores this altogether in yet another lie by omission.

The Post continues:

But the arrest orders undermine the ICC’s credibility and give credence to accusations of hypocrisy and selective prosecution. The ICC is putting the elected leaders of a democratic country with its own independent judiciary in the same category as dictators and authoritarians who kill with impunity. 

As mentioned, the ICC is not engaging in selective prosecution. But if there is hypocrisy, it is The Post holding Netanyahu to one standard of immunity, and al-Assad to another, when in reality both should be prosecuted for war crimes. Likewise, The Post inexplicably seems to suggest that just because a country has democratically elected leaders with an independent judiciary, they somehow cannot commit war crimes and genocide. The logic is as confounding as it is utterly stupid. What, pray tell, can The Post cite to as evidence that just because a politician is elected, they are somehow exempt from being able to commit war crimes?

The Post continues:

Israel went to war in response to the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, which left 1,200 Israelis dead and another 250 taken hostage, around 100 of whom still remain captive. 

Here, The Post pretends the history of violence between Israel and Palestine began on October 7. To be explicitly clear, on October 7, 2023 I went on record to call Hamas’s violent assault on Israel as a war crime. I also made clear that October 7 was a continuation of violence, not an instigation of violence. As I have written before:

Why is it we never hear media report that in the year prior to 10/7/23, Hamas killed 240 Israeli civilians including 47 children, kidnapped 800 more Israeli children, held 8000 Israelis hostage, and built more than 12,000 homes on Israeli land? The answer: Because Hamas did none of those things—the Israeli government did.

The Post has never acknowledged these facts for the war crimes that they are. In their world view, to quote international human rights lawyer Diana Buttu, nothing justifies 10/7, but 10/7 justifies everything. And to be sure, each of the above facts have receipts. In the year prior to 10/7, the Israeli government killed at least 240 Palestinian civilians including 47 children in the West Bank (not Gaza, but in the West Bank where Hamas does not exist). In that same time period the Israeli government kidnapped 800 Palestinian children, separated them from their parents, and put them in indefinite detention—where they still suffer physical and sexual abuse according to Israeli human rights organizations. The Israeli government additionally held 8000 Palestinians hostage in indefinite detention without trial, charge, conviction, or access to counsel, and built 12,000+ illegal homes on Palestinian land in just the first half of 2023. When has The Post called for a release of any of these hostages?

In fact, on October 6, 2023, the human rights group Defence of Children International reported,

This year has witnessed the highest number of attacks on Palestinian children by Israeli forces, either by killing, maiming, or arresting. In August, Human Rights Watch said in a report that 2022 was the deadliest year for Palestinian children in the West Bank in 15 years. "This year is even worse, as 45 children were killed by the occupation forces in 2022, but already 47 have been killed in 2023, and the year is not over", said Ayed Abu Qteish from DCI-P. "The main reason for this spike is the fact that the complete lack of accountability, as there hasn't been a single case of accountability in the occupation army for the killing or maiming of a child.” Currently, Israeli forces hold 160 Palestinian children in its jails, including 32 under 15. Since 2000, Israeli forces have killed 2,287 Palestinian children.

I repeat, this report was published on October 6, 2023. But The Post would have us believe that none of the above happened and October 7 was a spontaneous attack. In reality, October 7 was a war crime, in response to Israeli war crimes. War crimes do not justify more war crimes, but one would hope that “the elected leaders of a democratic country with its own independent judiciary” would not engage in the mass murder of Palestinian children. Yet sadly, that is the reality we are witnessing, and the reality The Post continues to ignore.

The Post continues:

The ICC’s arrest warrant for one of the authors of that massacre, Hamas leader Mohammed Deif, who was probably killed in an Israeli airstrike months ago, looks more like false equivalence than genuine balance. To be sure, far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed and maimed in Israel’s 13-month-long war against Hamas: more than 44,000 have died, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. 

It’s remarkable how the Post cites numbers of 1200 killed versus 44,000 killed, and then has the audacity to claim its a false equivalence that is unfair to Israel.

Likewise, The Post’s implicit racism comes to light once more in suggesting unreliability of the death toll cited by the Gaza Health Ministry. This is the data that US intel agencies and the Biden administration accept, that the UN accepts (as The Post itself reported), data that prestigious academic journals like The Lancet accept as accurate, and data that Israel itself claims is accurate and reliable. Yet The Post seeks to cast doubt for what logical reason?

Next, while earlier The Post insinuated that the ICC only charged Netanyahu and Gallant, now it complains that the ICC charged them along with Hamas leaders—claiming that is an unfair equivocation. Let’s be clear. War crimes do not need equivocation to be considered war crimes. What Hamas committed on 10/7 was a war crime. What Netanyahu and Gallant committed well before and well after 10/7 are also war crimes.

But let us even use The Post’s “equivocation” terminology for the sake of argument. The Post wants readers to believe it is unfair to equivocate Hamas and the Israeli military when Hamas killed 1200 people while Israel has killed around 44,000 (or at least 186,000 by The Lancet’s estimate). If equivocation is The Post’s hill to die on, it must accept that for every Israeli killed by Hamas, Netanyahu and Gallant have killed at least 155 Palestinians—and indeed there is no equivocation between the two vast disparities. But The Post will never admit to this, because once again, doing so undermines their entire argument.

The Post continues:

[The Gaza Health Ministry] says more than half of the fatalities have been women and children. The Israeli military says it has killed 17,000 militants; though its basis for that is unclear, even if accurate, it implies more than 60 percent killed have been noncombatants. 

Notice the multiple contradictions here. Previously, without citing any evidence The Post cast doubt on the Gaza Health Ministry’s numbers despite every interested party acknowledging their accuracy. And now, The Post acknowledges Israel has no basis for its arbitrary numbers, yet accepts them.

But even taking those arbitrary numbers, The Post admits that by Israel’s own admission, it has killed at least 27,000 civilians—yet it somehow genocide pretzel’s its way into claiming its unfair to “equivocate” the Israeli military with Hamas who has killed 4% of that death toll.

The Post continues:

Hamas is to blame for sheltering among civilians and hiding their weapons and command centers in tunnels beneath populated areas. 

The Post cites zero evidence for this claim. Despite linking to more than 20 resources in its article, The Post provides zero resources to back up the claim that Hamas is “sheltering among civilians.” None. And this should be of no surprise to readers. The Post is simply repeating Netanyahu’s continued claim that “Hamas is using these hospitals for military purposes,” including as “command-and-control” centers. On the contrary, a detailed UN Commission from Summer 2024 concluded the following:

Israeli security forces asserted that over 85% of major medical facilities in Gaza were used by Hamas for terror operations, but did not provide evidence to substantiate that claim. Israeli security forces alleged that there were tunnels underneath or connected to hospitals, and that Hamas stored weapons, hid personnel and operated headquarters from within and underneath hospitals. The Commission interviewed senior medical personnel at hospitals and they denied that there was any military activity, emphasizing that the hospitals’ only role was to treat patients.

Note, the Israeli military has bombed or destroyed 110 hospitals and medical centers, and could not provide evidence of Hamas using even one of them as a command center. The Post ignores this fact altogether.

Moreover, ample evidence exists that in fact the Israeli military is using Palestinian civilians as human shields—a fact The Washington Post itself reported just last month. So to summarize, The Post launched a daunting allegation against Hamas of using human shields, offered no evidence, all the while ignoring the reporting of its own journalists about the fact that Israel has, is, and continues to use Palestinians as human shields—which is a war crime.

The Post continues:

But Israel, as a democratic country that is committed to human rights, must take responsibility for the civilian casualty toll.

The irony of The Post making this statement—while writing an entire article to absolve Netanyahu, Gallant, and Israel of responsibility—shows a lack of self awareness so remarkable it belongs in a museum somewhere.

The Post continues:

Israel also has a responsibility to allow humanitarian aid to reach the millions of Palestinians displaced and suffering from an acute food shortage bordering on famine. On this, the Israeli government has fallen short. 

The Post’s parade of whitewashing genocide comes to a crescendo with this diatribe. “Fallen short” is the phrase one uses when a sports team loses by a single point. It is not the terminology to use when describing war crimes. The Post is right that Israel has a binding obligation to ensure humanitarian aid reaches Palestinians. But not only does The Post then ignore that Israeli soldiers and extremist Israeli settlers are diverting aid that gets through, it ignores that in denying aid altogether, the Israeli military is committing a de facto war crime. As international human rights law makes explicitly clear:

Denial of humanitarian access to civilians, including children, and attacks against humanitarian workers assisting children are prohibited under the 4th Geneva Convention and its Additional Protocols and may amount to a crime against humanity and a war crime. Moreover, it is a principle in customary international law.

The Post insinuates Israel’s blocking of aid as some inadvertent mistake. Famine is not a mistake, it is deliberate, and The Post should be ashamed to whitewash Israel’s deliberate war crimes.

The Post continues:

The State Department, in declining to impose sanctions on Israel for blocking aid deliveries, said it saw some recent improvements, such as a successful polio vaccination campaign in Gaza, another border crossing reopened, and an increase in the number of aid trucks allowed in over past month. But a Post analysis found that Israel has largely failed to comply with the U.S. government’s three main demands — a surge of humanitarian aid, not a trickle; access to Gaza for commercial trucks; and an end to Israeli’s siege of populated northern Gaza. 

The Post now remarkably admits that Israel has violated its obligations of ensuring aid enter Gaza, admits that the State Department is lying about Israel allowing aid into Gaza, yet still writes an entire diatribe condemning the ICC for holding Israel accountable for committing the war crime of denying aid into Gaza. Mind numbing logic. Scholar

Stephen Semler

well documents just how atrocious Israel’s blockade truly is, stating:

USAID said 600 aid trucks must enter Gaza daily. Biden asked Israel to let in 350/day. Israel let in 56/day. The 30-day ultimatum to Israel may not have changed US policy, but it's now clearer than ever that mass starvation is that policy.

Semler then presents a powerful graphic to illustrate Israel’s policy of deliberate starvation of Palestinian civilians, which again, is a war crime.

Let’s be direct. Anyone who whitewashes this horrifying denial of aid as “fallen short,” and not “deliberate war crime,” is complicit in the mass starvation and killing of innocent people.

The Post continues:

To be sure, aid could have flowed in more quickly if Hamas had accepted a cease-fire deal to free the remaining hostages, but Hamas instead insisted on a withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Gaza and a permanent end to hostilities.

At this point The Post is flat out lying and doing so with such brazen disregard for reality I have to believe they were forced to write this under threat of life and liberty. Here are the facts. Back in May Hamas did accept the binding UN Security Council Resolution 2735, which called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and release of all hostages. Most remarkably, this was Israel’s own proposed deal. Once Israel saw that Hamas was going to accept the offer, Israel then rejected it’s very own resolution.

The Post shamelessly lies and blames Hamas for not accepting the deal when in reality it was Israel who refused its own resolution. In fact, even Israeli media and the families of Israeli hostages have loudly acknowledged this fact and put the blame squarely on Netanyahu for preventing a hostage deal. Haaretz and the Jewish Independent both cite the report by Channel 12 News' Yaron Avraham, that:

Since the hostage release-ceasefire deal in November, Israel's negotiation team has been a futile mission to secure another deal to bring home more hostages, while Netanyahu “did everything in his power to make sure they are not successful”. Netanyahu walked back several promises he made, including an agreement to end the war, and invented new "non-starters" that were previously never mentioned that blocked a deal. He also repeatedly prevented negotiators from travelling to ceasefire talks, or greatly limited their negotiation powers when they are allowed to go.

But perhaps even more concerning is that this is not a recent development. Haaretz reported way back in March, 2024, that Netanyahu’s own generals are angry with him for “sabotaging a hostage deal.” In fact, the families of the hostages themselves condemn Netanyahu as “Mr. Death,” stating that they learned a full hostage deal was on the table in October of 2023, that Netanyahu rejected. Knowing all this, The Post claims aid did not flow because “Hamas did not accept a deal.” Just incredible.

But for the sake of argument, let us pretend Hamas rejecting a ceasefire deal is why aid did not flow. That is still a war crime. International human rights law does not excuse an occupying military force from ensuring humanitarian aid flows to a civilian population because the opposing side does not accept a ceasefire deal. Such a condition would undermine the very nature of requiring humanitarian aid. Did even a single editorial board member at The Post bother to read up on human rights law before taking such an absurd position?

The Post continues:

Israel needs to be held accountable for its military conduct in Gaza. After the conflict’s end — which is long overdue — there will no doubt be Israeli judicial, parliamentary and military commissions of inquiry. 

Again, The Post makes a claim with zero evidence. The ‘conflict’ has been ongoing for more than half a century of Israel’s illegal military occupation of Palestinian land. Pray tell, when has there been any accountability for Israel building nearly 1 million illegal settlements, for killing more than 2200 Palestinian children since the year 2000, or even for killing Hind Rajab with more than 300 bullets from a tank at close range in late 2023? The Post cites zero examples of accountability, because it knows zero such examples exist. What magical judicial, parliamentary, and military commissions of inquiry does The Post refer to? These are all hypotheticals The Post has convinced itself exist, but only exist as a figment of their own imagination. It is reprehensible for The Post to pretend accountability exists when the overwhelming evidence from more than a half century of human rights law violations demonstrate no such thing.

The Post continues:

Israeli’s vibrant, independent media will do its own investigations. 

The Post again shamelessly lies by omission. The Post ignores that the Israeli media has already condemned Netanyahu for war crimes as I cited earlier, and to no avail. Moreover and perhaps more importantly, The Post ignores that Netanyahu has banned all media from Gaza, has killed more than 137 journalists, and has faced exactly zero accountability for any of these war crimes. The “vibrant independent media” to which The Post refers is muzzled by Netanyahu, and rather than call out that massive injustice, The Post adds another layer of of suffocating cover for genocide.

The Post continues:

Some Israeli reserve soldiers have already been arrested over accusations of abuse against Palestinian detainees. More investigations will follow. The ICC is supposed to become involved when countries have no means or mechanisms to investigate themselves. That is not the case in Israel.

Indeed, this is the case in Israel. As mentioned, violations of Palestinian human rights and sovereignty has perpetuated for decades without relief. Settlement expansion continues, and the Israeli government’s promise to annex Gaza continues. The IDF has even smuggled into Gaza Israeli land developers to start planning for future illegal Israeli settlements. The arrest of a few soldiers is hardly accountability for mass war crimes and genocide of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

The Post acknowledges one torture camp, but ignores that more than 10,000 Palestinian civilians are held in indefinite detention in Israeli prisons without charge, trial, due process, access to counsel, or means of relief. The Post ignores that extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank are exempt from indefinite detention, but Palestinians are not. The Post ignores that according to B’TSalem, an Israeli human rights org, more than 1000 children suffer in Israeli prisons. The Post ignores that according to Save the Children These imprisoned children are further denied access to counsel or parents, while suffering ongoing physical and sexual abuse. As Save the Children International reports:

Palestinian children in the Israel military detention system face physical and emotional abuse, with four out of five (86%) of them being beaten, and 69% strip-searched. Nearly half (42%) are injured at the point of arrest, including gunshot wounds and broken bones. Some report violence of a sexual nature and some are transferred to court or between detention centres in small cages. It is estimated that there are between 500 and 1000 children held in Israeli military detention each year. While the Post rightly laments the 100 hostages under Hamas subjugation, it ignores the 10,000 Palestinian hostages under Israeli subjugation. Perhaps this is unsurprising as The Post expresses more pain for the 1200 Israelis killed by Hamas, than it does for the 186,000 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military.

Likewise, the Post fabricates its own rules on when the ICC is “supposed to” get involved. In actuality, the ICC mandate is clear:

The Court will prosecute the most serious crimes that are of concern to the international community. These are crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The Court has the power to prosecute cases if the national state is “unwilling or unable” to carry out a genuine investigation or prosecution.

And given that Netanyahu believes he is acting in complete accordance to the law and is refusing to provide aid to Palestinians, refusing to stop bombing hospitals and schools, and refusing to release Palestinian children suffering sexual abuse in his prisons, the ICC is perfectly within its mandate to prosecute these most serious crimes of concern to the international community.

The Post continues:

The United States has long had an ambivalent relationship with the ICC. It refuses to be a party to the court for fear of politically motivated prosecutions against U.S. service members overseas. But at times it has encouraged the ICC and lent support, as in the case of war crimes against Russian President Vladimir Putin for his invasion of Ukraine.

As it closes out its article, The Post finally mentions Russia once more. And in doing so, The Post simply points out the hypocrisy of the United States, and nothing more. In reality, as the USA rightly condemned Putin for invading Ukraine and taking land that does not belong to Russia, the USA simultaneously armed Netanyahu even as he took Palestinian land that does not belong to Israel.

And while The Post describes the US-ICC relationship as “ambivalent,” the USA was pivotal to the creation of the ICC and provided much of the initial funding and logistics support. Moreover, the USA and Israel were both paramount to the selection of Karim Khan as the next ICC prosecutor, who was even then described as “Israel’s preferred candidate.” What The Post carelessly describes as “ambivalent” has in fact been a history of strong US support for the ICC—until the ICC decided Netanyahu also is subject to the confines of international human rights like like the rest of humanity.

The Post concludes:

President-elect Donald Trump, in his first term, took a hostile stance toward the ICC. Mr. Trump imposed travel sanctions against ICC prosecutors and staff, which President Joe Biden lifted. The ill-considered arrest warrants against Israel only give Mr. Trump a new reason to halt American cooperation with the court, at a time when it’s needed for Russia, Sudan, Myanmar and conflicts elsewhere that atrocities are being committed with impunity and the victims have no other recourse.

It is predictable how after the plethora of lies and falsehoods to demonize the ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu, The Post takes one final jab by calling it an “ill-considered” arrest warrant. Likewise, if The Post actually believed Donald Trump needed a reason to undermine the rule of law, then The Post’s editorial board is either incredibly naive or incredible incompetent. In reality, this is simply who The Post has become—a sycophant for psychopaths. A few days after The Post published the above condemnation of the ICC, it published another OpEd calling on Joe Biden to pardon Donald Trump for his crimes against the United States. When you’re defending war crimes and fascism, you’re no longer a newspaper—you’re a propaganda outlet. And sadly, that is what The Post editorial board is telling us they’ve become.

Conclusion

I do not quite know what is worse. The prospect that billionaire Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos dictated this absurd Editorial Board article, similar to how he forbade the Washington Post from endorsing during the Presidential election? Or, the prospect that the Washington Post editorial board actually believes the bloviating fact-less propaganda they just published. Either way, it does not bode well for a healthy fourth estate committed to holding the powerful accountable.

The facts are clear. The ICC is perfectly within its jurisdiction, right, and obligation to hold Netanyahu, Gallant, and Hamas leaders accountable for war crimes. That the ICC has not yet reached the point of filing arrest warrants for each of the despots mentioned by The Post is nothing more than an argument for increased ICC funding so it can fulfill its mandate of prosecuting war crimes. Rather than excuse war crimes committed by people The Post likes, perhaps its editorial board can remember that their job as journalists is not to capitulate in the face of atrocity, but to hold fast the call for democracy. If this is a task too difficult for The Post’s board, then maybe it’s time to resign and let actual journalists take the lead.

My job as a human rights lawyer is to speak truth to power and uphold absolute justice as my supreme standard. That mandates holding accountable the privileged and the powerful, the wealthy and the well connected, and the corrupt and the cruel, all while uplifting the marginalized and the manipulated. That is my promise to you, and it is a promise I will not break under any circumstance.

My ask of each of my readers is to invest in Let’s Address This with a paid subscription. As we continue to speak truth to power and hold legacy media accountable, your support makes our work possible. The bottom line is that we are not helpless, nor should we sit idle. Let us activate, organize, and ensure by our actions that democracy does not die in the darkness.