It is somehow fitting that the International Criminal Court prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants against leaders of both Hamas and Israel in connection with mass slaughters carried out since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and Israel’s response. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan is seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
All parties unsurprisingly expressed outrage that they would be deemed equally complicit in an endless war that in its latest iteration has resulted in the deaths of more than 30,000 noncombatants. Linking Israeli and Palestinian leaders in this fashion is a tragic and thoroughly depressing reminder that there were once more hopeful times. In 1994, their predecessors — Israeli leaders Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat — were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for moving from avowed eternal enmity and armed force to attempted reconciliation.
“We who have fought against you, the Palestinians, we say to you today, in a loud and clear voice, enough of blood and tears,” Rabin said to Arafat in a 1993 White House ceremony. “Enough!” ADVERTISEMENT The Oslo Accords intended to pave the way to Palestinian statehood were never fully embraced. Arafat was discredited by Islamic activists for making peace, and his successors lost control of Gaza to Hamas.
Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by an Israeli claiming .
