Better for Israel, at this difficult moment, to look inwards, at long last, to see its own portrait.
At last, justice; the very earliest signs of the beginning of a late, partial justice, yet still a measure of justice.
There is no joy in your prime minister and your country's defense minister about to become wanted all over the world, but it is impossible not to feel some satisfaction about the beginning of some doing of justice.
In Israelis' wallowing and victimhood; in endless self-righteous panels on TV; in cries about an antisemitic world and the injustice of bundling Israel with Hamas, there's one fundamental, fateful question missing: Did Israel commit war crimes in Gaza? No one dares deal with this critical, key question: Were there, or were there not, crimes?
If war crimes were committed, mass killing and starvation, as suggested by the courageous prosecutor Karim Khan (in whose appointment Israel was involved behind the scenes, having found his predecessor suspect), then there are criminals responsible for them. And if there are war criminals, it is the world's duty to being them to justice. They must be declared wanted and arrested.
If Hamas committed war crimes – and there seems no argument about this – then its criminals must be brought to justice. And if Israel committed war crimes – and there seems no argument about this in the world, except in suicidal self-deceiving Israel – those responsible for them must also be brought to justice.
Bundling them does not imply moral symmetry or legal equivalency. Even if Israel and Hamas were accused separately, Israel would have raised a ruckus against the court.
The only argument heard now in Israel is that the judge is a son of a bitch. The only means suggested preventing his harsh sentence is by causing harm to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
To convince friendly nations not to uphold its rulings, to impose sanctions (!) on its judges. This is how every criminal thinks, but a state has no right to think that way. The two international courts, in which Israel and Israelis are standing trials, deserve the state's respect, not its contempt. Contempt of court by Israel will only add to the list of accusations and suspicions against it.
Better for Israel, at this difficult moment, to look inwards, at long last, to see its own portrait. Better it blamed itself for something, anything, rather than blame the entire world. How did we come to this, that should be the question, rather than how did they come to this.
When will we finally take responsibility for anything, for something done in our name? The 106 MKs who've signed the petition against the ICC and the zero MKs who've signed the non-existent petition against Israeli war crimes are a sad reflection on the country: united against doing justice, united in an eternal sense of victimhood, no right and no left, a heavenly choir. If Israel is one day convicted of war crimes, it must be remembered that 106 MKs voted to whitewash those of Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.
The Gaza Strip is in ruins, its residents killed, wounded, orphaned, starved, destitute, though most of them were innocent. This is clearly a war crime. Starvation is viewed by everybody in Israel as a legitimate means, to be supported or opposed, as is intentional mass killing. How could anybody make the case that there was no starvation or intentional mass killing?
The day after the ICC, Israel must regroup for an introspective national reckoning, something it has never done before. Every Israeli must ask themselves: How have we come to this? It is not enough to blame Netanyahu, the main culprit, nor is it enough to whitewash this with evasive arguments about hasbara, faulty legal counsel and extreme remarks from Israeli officials.
The issue runs far deeper: For 57 years, Israel has been maintaining a regime of wrongdoing and evil, and now, at last, the world is waking up and starting to act against it. Will it also be able to wake up at least some Israelis from their heedless, twisted sense of justice?