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<\/a><\/p>\nJonathan Cook When everything is exposed as a lie, the biggest liars triumph. The forces of darkness rush in to fill the void. That is the future awaiting us<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n For more than a year, those calling for an end to Israel\u2019s slaughter of civilians in Gaza have been relentlessly vilified: as apologists for Hamas, as antisemites, even as\u00a0supporters of a genocide<\/a>\u00a0against Israel and the wider Jewish people.<\/span><\/p>\n These smears have been buttressed by western politicians and the media insisting that Israel is conducting a legitimate, \u201cdefensive\u201d war with limited aims: supposedly to eradicate Hamas and free a few dozen remaining Israeli hostages.<\/span><\/p>\n The bigger picture has had to be swept from view. That Israel has levelled the infrastructure in Gaza needed to sustain life; bombarded Palestinians wherever they have sought refuge; butchered many tens of thousands of civilians \u2013 or more likely hundreds of thousands; and actively starved most of the population by withholding aid.<\/span><\/p>\n And, overlooked in all of this, Israel has failed to make a significant impact on\u00a0Hamas\u2019 fighting ability<\/a>\u00a0and has almost certainly\u00a0endangered the lives<\/a>\u00a0of the hostages with its indiscriminate bombing campaigns.<\/span><\/p>\n Finally, 14 months on, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has struck a major blow against Israel\u2019s tissue of lies and deceptions \u2013 as well as the complicity of western elites.<\/span><\/p>\n Judges at the war crimes court approved last month the\u00a0issuing of arrest warrants<\/a>\u00a0against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant.<\/span><\/p>\n After six months of delays, the ICC has agreed, against a background of\u00a0unprecedented intimidation<\/a>, to put the pair on trial at The Hague for crimes against humanity, including the targeting of civilians and the use of starvation as a method of war.<\/span><\/p>\n Should either step on the soil of any of the\u00a0124 member states<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 including Britain and all of Europe \u2013 that state will be obligated to arrest them and transfer them to The Hague.<\/span><\/p>\n The charges laid against Netanyahu and Gallant are likely also to bolster the case being made at the ICC\u2019s sister court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), that Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza meet the\u00a0legal definition of genocide<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n What is clear is that the walls are closing in on Israel, as they are for those who have aided and abetted its crimes. Which includes western political and media establishments.<\/span><\/p>\n
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