Erwan DAVOUX, former Project Officer at the Presidency of the Republic, has advised numerous right-wing political figures internationally.
Large-scale massacres committed in Gaza as well as the famine organised by the Netanyahu government unfortunately have equivalents in history.
Yet they have one specific characteristic: they are extremely modern in the sense that it is possible to know precisely what is happening in the Gaza Strip, day by day, hour by hour. The excuse of ignorance does not have the slightest place. Right from the first few days, everyone knew what was unfolding in Gaza (and incidentally in the West Bank).
Dictators and torturers, who have been numerous throughout history, banked on an impunity due to the slow circulation of information, while their foreign counterparts, more or less informed, could claim otherwise. How many war crimes suspects have escaped any punishment because the revelation of their crimes came very late or even well after they had passed away?
The massacres and orchestrated famines by these dictators were most often directed against their own people or annexed territories. Whether it was the Holodomor caused in 1932-1933 by Stalin, which resulted in the death of 4 million Ukrainians (Ukraine was then part of the Bolshevik Empire), or the Khmer Rouge dictator Pol Pot, whose toll against his population stands at over a million and a half people killed—amounting to nearly 20 % of the Cambodian population through executions, torture, excessive forced labour, untreated illness, or famine.
Let's be very clear: it is not the number of victims that establishes the genocidal character or not, but the nature of the action. The number of victims currently stands at 30,878, which is 1.5% of the population of Gaza. And the fact that the Israeli government is the result of a free election changes nothing at all.
The conflict in Gaza therefore opens a new era: that of a government that massacres and takes responsibility for its actions in the face of the international community. With certainly some PR propaganda operations that no longer fool anyone, the countless fake news stories exposed almost daily.
But also, a conflict that is not internal since an army, that of Israel, is carrying out a brutal crackdown against civilians in a Palestinian territory under international law.
Therefore, the decision on the merits to be handed down by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is of paramount importance. A state, that of the Holocaust survivors, could find itself accused of genocide. Those who actively participated in this genocide, if it is established, could see their acts classified as «war crimes» and would fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC). But Israel does not recognise the ICC, which is strange for a state that calls itself a democracy….
Where will the boundary of accountability stop? Could Western leaders fall foul of complicity in genocide if the ICJ were to classify the conflict in Gaza as such?
Under French law, complicity falls under Article 121-7 of the Criminal Code: «A person who knowingly, by aid or assistance, has facilitated the preparation or commission of a crime or major offence is an accomplice to it. A person who, by gift, promise, threat, command, abuse of authority or of power, has instigated an offence or given instructions to commit it is also an accomplice.»
Emmanuel Macron can congratulate himself that the idea sold to him by a pseudo-philosopher of an anti-Hamas coalition in the form of the one that fought Daesh has fallen completely flat, because if France had indeed taken part in the massacres under the guise of fighting Hamas, then...
Leaders supplying weapons to Israel enabling it to carry out what currently amounts to massacres, but which could soon be classified as «genocide» if the domestic law of those states permits, could fall under this charge.
According to figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the vast majority of Israel’s arms imports are from the US (92% between 2017 and 2021), with Germany accounting for 6.9% of Israel’s arms purchases during the same period, whilst Italy came third with 1%.
Have these three countries stopped their arms deliveries since the start of the conflict in Gaza? For the United States and Germany, the answer appears to be no. What about France? As Stéphane Séjourné claimed before the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee, French arms sales to Israel are residual. Nevertheless, he was unable to provide the exact figure and undertook to provide it at a later date.
Note that complicity in the violation of international law may not be direct. Thus, in the Netherlands, on 12 February, a court ordered the halting of deliveries of F-35 fighter jet parts to the Israeli army. Let us be clear, this was not a matter of arms sales by the Netherlands, but simply the fact that the US military was storing F-35 fighter jet parts in the Netherlands.
Finally, another possibility, Article 211-2 of the Penal Code which is worded as follows: Public and direct incitement, by any means, to commit genocide is punishable by life imprisonment if this incitement has had effect. If the incitement has not had effect, the acts are punishable by seven years' imprisonment and a €100,000 fine. Could it apply to all those who have openly, publicly and repeatedly supported this genocide (if it is established?) or even encouraged Israel to go even further? Perhaps...
While the verdict delivered by the ICJ will be decisive, there is every reason to fear that individual responsibilities will become bogged down and may not necessarily face legal sanction. Nevertheless, other courts exist. People across the world have expressed massive support for an «immediate ceasefire» and, more broadly, for the Palestinian cause.
In a democracy, the people vote and the penalty can be political. This is how one must interpret the pathetic about-turns of certain individuals, and the slightly more robust statements directed against Netanyahu. The fear of bearing the political and electoral responsibility for supporting a major massacre, possibly a genocide. Human conscience has, alas, very little to do with it!
[1] I will only use the term «genocide» in the conditional or as a question in order to be extremely rigorous. Indeed, the ICJ's decision of 26 January, a real bombshell, established that the indications and evidence of a possible genocide were sufficiently convincing to order Israel to take provisional measures. It is only when the ICJ delivers its ruling on the merits that the classification of genocide will be adopted or not.
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