The Senate will vote soon whether to sanction the International Criminal Court for applying laws to Israel like any other country. The US has consistently had the attitude that accountability is great for Designated Bad countries, but not for us or our friends. More 👇 - ThreadSky

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elizabethrb.bsky.social • 36 days ago

The Senate will vote soon whether to sanction the International Criminal Court for applying laws to Israel like any other country.

The US has consistently had the attitude that accountability is great for Designated Bad countries, but not for us or our friends.

More 👇

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elizabethrb.bsky.social•36 days ago

The last time we sanctioned the ICC was during Trump I, when the Prosecutor merely suggested that investigating war crimes in Afghanistan might include looking at US behavior there too.

elizabethrb.bsky.social•36 days ago

Of course, the US ran a brutal, criminal, lawless torture program in Afghanistan (and other places).

And, never held anyone accountable in US courts for it.

But, it was insulting to think our conduct might even be examined!

elizabethrb.bsky.social•36 days ago

The ICC's jurisdiction rules are complicated but there's one aspect that you rarely hear about from pearl-clutching politicians: "complimentarity."

It means the ICC has no jurisdiction if a country has already taken accountability measures itself.

elizabethrb.bsky.social•36 days ago

This was the basic point that @ilhanmn.bsky.social was making when she pressed Blinken on where victims of US and Israeli atrocities are supposed to find justice, if there's none domestically and we oppose it internationally.

elizabethrb.bsky.social•36 days ago

(By then, the Biden admin had come in and backed off the ICC sanctions of the Trump administration but still firmly opposed the ICC looking into US behavior in Afghanistan).

Omar got pretty pilloried over it but she was right! I wrote this at the time:

https://fellowtravelersblog.com/2021/06/28/ilhan-omar-was-right-the-ugly-reality-of-international-justice/

elizabethrb.bsky.social•36 days ago

I have a longer law review article on the US-ICC Afghanistan dispute and how it laid bare the two-tiered system of international justice we've tried to maintain:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4042243

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