Director of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in New York, Craig Mokheiber, accused the United States of being the biggest obstructionist in punishing those who violate international humanitarian law.
He said that this was evident in its support for the likely genocide in Gaza, and that it is the largest supporter of racial discrimination in the world, and revealed that it had enacted a law to attack the headquarters of the International Criminal Court in The Hague militarily if it dared to try any American or any of its allies.
This was stated in a lengthy interview with Mokheiber conducted and published by the American news site Mondoweiss, beginning by introducing him to Mokheiber as the man who resigned from his position on October 28 last, accusing the United Nations of failing in its mission to prevent “genocide in Gaza.”
He wasn’t surprised
In response to a question about the reason behind America’s support of Israel in its violations of international law, which could constitute genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity, Moukheiber said that he was not surprised by America’s position, which conflicts with the position of the American people.
He explained that the American position serves the interests of a narrow group, namely arms manufacturers, technology companies, and Israeli lobbyists, who use all their influence, and pressure with carrots and sticks, to ensure that the American administrations in Washington remain fully allied with the Israeli ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip.
He said that US President Joe Biden is doing what every Democrat and Republican has done for decades, and the difference between him and his predecessors is that he does not even care about what the American people think, adding that opinion polls showed that the vast majority of Americans – Republicans and Democrats – oppose the Israeli attack on Gaza and want a ceasefire. Fire and reduced aid to Israel.
A long history of contempt
He added that there is a long tradition of American disdain for international law, and it has the worst records of ratifying international human rights treaties. Every country in the world has ratified the treaty that protects the human rights of children, with the exception of America, commenting that “this symbolizes America’s general position on international law.”
He said that the United States refuses to ratify the Rome Statute, and opposes efforts aimed at holding accountable perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, genocide, and gross human rights violations by international mechanisms if the perpetrator is an American or a friend of them.
Invasion of The Hague
He added that Congress has already passed a law called the “Hague Invasion Law,” which stipulates that the United States is authorized to use military force to attack the International Criminal Court in The Hague in order to “liberate” anyone whom Washington does not want to be tried there.
Moukheiber continued to say that there is a myth that America is a leader in the field of human rights in the world, “but personally, and during 40 years of working in the field of human rights at the United Nations, I have not seen evidence of that.”
He pointed out that America actively opposes any measure to combat racism.
The International Criminal Court is a vehicle for the West
Moukheiber strongly attacked the International Criminal Court, saying that it was established to try to provide a chance for justice for those who are victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, but instead, it has become a mechanism that is only willing to focus on the countries of the South, prosecute African leaders and a few others, and refuses to do anything. Something the West might not like.
He added that the most prominent example of what he argues against this court is the speed with which it acted regarding allegations of war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine, and its reluctance to act to avoid taking any action regarding Israeli violations in Palestine despite the fact that these cases were filed years ago.
Karim Khan undermines the criminal’s reputation
He said the current problem is that ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, whom he described as “completely politically corrupt,” is undermining the reputation of the entire court due to his bias and submissive service to Western interests.
He added that if Israel gets away with widespread war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and genocide in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the message will be that the rules established after World War II do not apply to the United States. And its allies, and this will be the beginning of the end of the entire international framework.
The expansion project is almost complete
Mokheiber expressed his belief that Israel is currently accelerating its work to complete its original goal of ethnic cleansing Gaza and later the West Bank and East Jerusalem to implement the larger project that began in 1947, describing this as a historical moment in which Israel wants to make as much progress as possible to strengthen its settlement project. Colonial ethno-nationalist.
He added that Israel will try to implement as much of its major project as possible in the next few weeks, and will try to prevent any meaningful reconstruction or return, with the intention of forcing survivors to choose between remaining in southern Gaza in miserable and unsustainable conditions or crossing the border in Rafah to live in tents in Sinai or sending them in the diaspora to other countries so that the ethnic cleansing of Palestine is pushed much further.
With the complicity of the West, Israel from the river to the sea
After Gaza, and the talk is still according to Mukhaybar, they will begin, as they have already begun, to accelerate the persecution in the West Bank. They have already ethnically cleansed a number of villages, locked many in prisons, and imposed increasingly unbearable conditions in the hope of expelling more and more people from the West Bank so that their vision of an apartheid state, supremacy, settler colonialism, and ethnic nationalism “from the river to the sea” would be reinforced. .
He said that Israel is escaping punishment because of the complicity of the United States, the United Kingdom and a number of countries in Europe, and because of the failure of international legal structures and international institutions such as the United Nations, the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, and none of these structures will suddenly stand up and take a principled position, which means that hope In preventing Israel from escaping the punishment of genocide, the hope of ending Israelis’ powerful dream of an ethnocentric, oppressive and exclusive nation-state rests with ordinary people in Israel, Palestine and around the world.
