After Sinwar, the ICC and Sen Schumer Stand Exposed

 

The death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has left many so-called moderates in grief. The Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, offered condolences on Sinwar’s “martyrdom,” calling the mastermind of the Oct. 7 massacre a “great national leader.” Does anyone think this group, which the Biden Administration would have rule postwar Gaza, would thwart terrorism?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also saluted Sinwar—while receiving Iran’s foreign minister and Hamas’s top terrorists-in-suits for meetings. Another day in the life of a NATO ally.

Hardest hit by Sinwar’s death, however, should be Karim Ahmad Khan, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Recall that Mr. Khan had claimed to be evenhanded by seeking arrest warrants for a trio of Hamas leaders—Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif—alongside Israel’s Prime Minister and Defense Minister.

The moral equivalence was offensive, but now that all three Hamas chiefs have been killed, Israel has stripped Mr. Khan of his fig leaf. He is prosecuting Israelis alone for their defensive war to free hostages and defeat the death squads who want to repeat their Oct. 7 attack.

There was never any chance of Sinwar standing trial in The Hague or being deterred by the prospect. While an ICC indictment means something to a democracy like Israel, it is meaningless to terrorists who have no respect for international opinion, and already live in hiding to escape being killed as illegal enemy combatants under the traditional rules of war.

Mr. Khan knows all of this. He rushed to seek arrest warrants, before seriously investigating or even talking to the Israelis, as he had promised U.S. Senators he would, for its effect on Israel. When Mr. Khan was dangling his threat, the goal seemed to be to deter Israel from entering Hamas’s stronghold of Rafah. After Israel went in, Mr. Khan made his announcement to try to stop the tanks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proved him wrong by safely evacuating Rafah’s civilians. Then Israel uncovered tunnels to Egypt, hostages and now Sinwar in Rafah. The Hamas No. 1 seems to have been flushed out of his tunnels by Israel’s military pressure.

Mr. Khan was wrong about Rafah, as were President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who said she had “studied the maps.” They blocked arms to Israel over it. But Rafah’s centrality to Israel’s mission and to the chance of peace in postwar Gaza is now clear.

Yet the White House is still protecting the ICC. Over Mr. Biden’s objections, 42 House Democrats joined Republicans in early June to pass a bill sanctioning the ICC. The measure likely could pass the Senate, but Sens. Chuck Schumer and Ben Cardin have done the White House’s bidding and sat on it, despite pressure by Sen. Jim Risch and other Republicans.

Mr. Schumer promised bipartisan negotiations on an ICC sanctions bill. He never delivered, so the U.S. does nothing as the ICC expands its jurisdiction and stands poised to take up Hamas’s political struggle against Israel.

Wall Street Journal