International lawyer Dr Miha Pogačnik was surprised by the recent International Criminal Court (ICC) order for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister of Israel Yoav Gallant, as he believes that it was issued on the basis of one-sided information, but that it is nonetheless legally binding. However, he was less surprised by the reaction of Prime Minister Robert Golob. “He took the opportunity to at least make a statement on something,” he said.
“It was essentially a decision of the so-called Pre-Trial Chamber, which upheld the Prosecutor’s motion, and I have to say that, to my great surprise – or maybe not – in view of all the documents examined, the court acted on the basis of rather one-sided portrayals of all the events in the area of the so-called State of Palestine,” Dr Miha Pogačnik said.
The request for arrest warrants was filed in May by the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s office branded it an anti-Semitic move, claiming that their Prime Minister would not cave in under pressure and would not back down “until all the war aims have been achieved.” Meanwhile, the former Defence Minister of Israel, whose arrest warrant has also been issued recently, Yoav Galant, criticised the International Criminal Court for equating Israel and Hamas and setting a dangerous precedent against the right to self-defence. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar described the decision as a dark moment for the ICC, while Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog called the arrest warrants a scandalous decision and a mockery of the fight for justice.
Pogačnik pointed out that the International Criminal Court is only a body which is part of the United Nations system, and “we know what an unfortunate role the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA) has played in the whole case. We know that UN officials have also collaborated with terrorists, and all of this together casts a very bad light in this direction, that the court’s decision is political and that in a sense it is applying different criteria,” he said, also recalling a similar warrant that was also issued for Russian President Vladimir Putin. “But it is one thing to deal with a dictator of a country who is carrying out aggression against another country by committing war crimes, and it is another thing to deal with the president of a democratic country who is defending himself against terrorism,” he explained.
All this casts a bad light on the International Criminal Court
Pogačnik explained that Netanyahu is also accused of denying food to civilians, “but on the other hand, we know that the vast majority of trucks, and this has been proven and documented, are confiscated by terrorists,” he pointed out, adding that while it is an unfortunate decision in terms of interpretation of the facts, it is still the decision of a judicial tribunal and is, therefore, legally binding. Our interlocutor went on to explain that all of this together casts a bad light on the International Criminal Court: “I have just read that a part of high politics in the Czech Republic is considering leaving the ICC, or denouncing the Rome Statute.”
He said that some other Western countries are also considering this, and he also suggested that Slovenia could consider it in the future.
Golob’s anti-Semitic move?
Regarding the arrest warrants, Prime Minister Robert Golob said that Slovenia respects the decision of the International Criminal Court on arrest warrants and that it will fully respect it, according to his words on the X network, as reported by the Government Communications Office (UKOM). Dr Pogačnik was not surprised by Golob’s statement, as he believes that it was an expected move, in line with the current coalition’s foreign policy actions. “He could not say anything else in his position because something had to happen and that was all he could say. As far as the Foreign Ministry is concerned, it is mostly foolish moves that are being made in international relations, and I think that for Golob, this was an opportunity that he took to at least say something at the international level, because all the other achievements have been bad,” Pogačnik stressed.
According to Pogačnik, it was also just an automatic move, which is, of course, in line with the current Slovenian foreign policy, which is strongly anti-Israeli. “This is part of Slovenia’s anti-Israel policy. I dare not say that it has reached the level of anti-Semitism – but if it continues to go on like this, it will, and on the other hand, Slovenian diplomacy openly supports the terrorist organisation Hamas (financially), so these things are not so surprising at all,” Pogačnik concluded.
Tanja Brkić
