Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures as he speak during a conference with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Jerusalem, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015. Abe is on his six-day visit to the Middle East. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner) – See more at: http://dailystar.com.lb/Life/Lubnan/2015/Jan-15/284227-fashion-on-the-ski-slopes-get-the-right-gear-and-go-colorful.ashx#sthash.Q1XNZdFJ.dpuf

The Daily Star

The uproar from the U.S. and Israel over the International Criminal Court’s announcement that it will investigate possible war crimes by the Jewish state during its offensive on Gaza is an embarrassment to these two countries, which claim to stand for justice.

Continually extolling the virtues of diplomacy and justice over violent resistance, now that Palestine is taking the former steps, the U.S. has called it a “tragic irony” and Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu has labeled the ICC probe “absurd” and “preposterous.” It is almost as if Israel feels it has something to hide, and it is interesting that the U.S. and Israel are not even members of the court themselves.

Now that Palestine has opened this path, Israel should perhaps reflect on the other war crimes it has committed since the Nakba in 1948, starting with the Deir Yassine massacre of that year; the subsequent massacres elsewhere in Palestine and in Lebanon – in Sabra and Shatila and Qana; the assassinations of Palestinian leaders; the two intifadas and the other wars on Gaza. This is quite aside from the daily – but no less insidious – war crimes committed against Palestinians and Palestinian land: sequestration of land and settlement building; ethnic cleansing of areas; restrictions on freedom of movement and limits to access to work and health care; violence carried out by the authorities against civilians, many of them children.

But regardless of the outcome of the ICC probe, in taking its case to the court, Palestine is publicizing its legitimate case(s) against Israel.

Perhaps finally this will help the international community to acknowledge something it knows has been going on for decades

– See more at: http://dailystar.com.lb/Life/Lubnan/2015/Jan-15/284227-fashion-on-the-ski-slopes-get-the-right-gear-and-go-colorful.ashx#sthash.Q1XNZdFJ.dpuf