Netanyahu: A Wanted Man Flies Over Europe. Nobody Moves
Benjamin Netanyahu’s aircraft flew through the airspace of Greece, Italy, and France on its way to Washington on Monday. All three are parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The ICC issued a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest on 21 November 2024, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza.
Not one country scrambled a jet. Not one government issued a formal objection. The plane passed through, unhindered, as though international law were a courtesy extended only to the powerless.
The European Commission is acutely aware of the chasm between its much-heralded rhetoric on international law and its utter inaction. It speaks of obligations. Its member states wave a wanted man through.
UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese was direct: “Italian, French and Greek citizens deserve to know that every political action violating the international legal order weakens and endangers all of them.”
She is right. Justice is not selective or it is not justice at all. The same courts, the same statutes, the same solemn obligations that Western nations invoke against their adversaries cannot simply evaporate when the accused flies a friendly flag.
Iran is burying its dead. Gaza has buried tens of thousands. And Europe waves the accused warmly through.
Two sets of rules. One broken world.