At long last, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for members of the Israeli leadership, most prominently Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While this development may seem symbolic—a piece of paper justice that fails to halt the bombings in Gaza and Lebanon—it has nonetheless been met with widespread celebration by a global community desperate for even the faintest semblance of accountability. Beyond Gaza, these warrants pose a critical litmus test for the credibility of international law and its enforceability in the years to come.
The central question remains: will the West honour these warrants? Will Western nations act to detain these individuals if they set foot on their soil? Will they exert pressure on others to enforce these orders, as they have consistently done for African leaders accused of war crimes? Or will this become yet another episode of U.S. and Israeli exceptionalism, where international law is sidelined—or outright threatened—to preserve their geopolitical dominance while ignoring the very rules they expect others to follow?
The reaction from Western nations is telling. The United Kingdom has maintained a deafening silence on how it would respond, while Germany has offered tepid support for the ICC but continues to supply arms to Israel, warrant or no warrant. Meanwhile, the United States has gone far beyond passive resistance. Members of Congress, heavily influenced by lobbying groups like AIPAC, have issued thinly veiled threats against the ICC and any nation that dares attempt to arrest Israeli officials. Some have even floated the possibility of military action, illustrating the extreme lengths to which the U.S. is willing to go to shield its ally from accountability.
These warrants may ultimately achieve little in terms of concrete action, given the reluctance of Western nations to alter their policies or risk their alliances. Yet, they serve as a stark reminder of the hypocrisy that underpins much of the international order. If these warrants are ignored, they will expose the selective application of international law, where power and politics override justice.
In doing so, they could also precipitate a deeper reckoning for the global system itself. If international law is seen as toothless in the face of Western and Israeli exceptionalism, it risks losing whatever credibility it still holds. These arrest warrants, symbolic as they may be, could mark the beginning of a broader unraveling of the international legal framework—a system already strained under the weight of its double standards.