As the International Court of Justice takes its next steps on investigating and prosecuting war crimes in Israel’s war on Gaza, the top expert on Palestine at the United Nations is pushing for even more international accountability.
In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with The Intercept, U.N. special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese, called for top European Union officials — including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen — to face charges of complicity in war crimes over their support for Israel during its 18-month assault on Gaza.
“The fact that the two highest figures of the EU continue business as usual engagements with Israel is beyond deplorable,” Albanese said. “I’m not someone who says, ‘History will judge them’ — they will have to be judged before then. And they will have to understand that immunity cannot equate with impunity.”
Pff based on what? That’s like saying you’d want a judge to decide whether I walked a red light yesterday in a city I wasn’t even in.
Von der Leyen doesn’t have executive power, she is incapable of being complicit in Israel war crimes from her position in EU even if she wanted to.
Definitely not a fair comparison, although you’re right in that she is more the outer face than the decision maker in this. But still, the EU and the commission certainly have influence on the member states, some of who supply weapons and stay quiet. And yes, those are the politicians who need to answer to a judge more then vdl.