Assembling A Legal Dream Team In Defense Of Israel

The International Criminal Court, of which neither Israel nor the U.S. is a member, has issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and former defense minister as well as a Hamas terrorist commander who is probably dead. Although Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant can’t be arrested in the U.S. or Israel, several European countries have already indicated they would arrest them, if they are found within their territory.
This case will be tried in a courtroom in The Hague. It will also be tried in the court of public opinion, both in the U.S. and throughout the world. For that reason, I am assembling a team of world class lawyers from around the globe to help defend Israeli leaders against the false charges.

Following a few calls shortly after the ICC announcement, several prominent lawyers agreed to join. They include former U.S. attorneys general Michael Mukasey and William Barr, former Solicitor General Seth Waxman, former FBI Director Louis Freeh, as well as former Canadian attorney general and minister of justice Irwin Cotler. Other former judges, government officials, prosecutors and current professors and criminal lawyers have signed on, including Andrew Cuomo, the former attorney general and governor of New York.

Among the distinguished lawyers are Kendall Coffey (former U.S. attorney in Southern Florida), Floyd Abrams, Susan Estrich, Nathan Lewin, Benjamin Brafman, Arthur Aidala, Ron Sullivan and other former prosecutors. Nadine Strossen, the former president of the American Civil Liberties Union, has agreed to join our group, as has Mark Levin who served as chief of staff for Attorney General Ed Meese and now has a widely watched TV show.

Interestingly, David Boies—one of America’s most famous litigators—has agreed to work with us. He and I have been involved in antagonistic litigation against each other for years, but we agree on this issue, and he is enthusiastic about joining me in this effort.

We will argue that the ICC has no jurisdiction against Israel, not only because it isn’t a member, but also because the treaty that established that court precludes it from considering cases against any country with a valid judicial system that is willing and able to investigate the alleged crimes. This concept is called “complementarity.” Israel has one of the best and most independent legal systems in the world, one that is both willing and able to investigate its own leaders. The Israeli courts have convicted and imprisoned a former prime minister, a former president and several ministers. Hamas has no such judicial system.

We will also demonstrate that Israel’s actions in Gaza don’t violate any international law or laws of war over which the ICC has jurisdiction. Even if the inflated numbers of casualties provided by the Hamas Health Services were accurate, the proportion of civilians to combatants killed by the Israel Defense Forces would be lower than in any comparable war anywhere in the world. This certainly doesn’t qualify as genocide or any other war crime. In addition, the efforts by Israel and the international community to send food and other provisions into Gaza have been stymied by Hamas and by gangs who have stolen the shipments.

By issuing arrest warrants for Israeli leaders and one Hamas terrorist, the court is seeking to equate the terrorism of Hamas, which murdered, raped and kidnapped approximately 1,450 Israelis, mostly civilians, with the self-defense efforts of Israel to prevent a promised recurrence of Oct. 7. Without making comparisons to the Holocaust, the ICC—which along with the International Court of Justice has shown bias against Israel for years—would probably have issued warrants against the Jewish fighters in the Warsaw ghetto along with the Nazis who were seeking to murder them. By pursuing these illegal and unjustified warrants, the ICC has lost its credibility. The U.S. should sanction the institution. This process is already under way in Congress and should be pursued.

The validity, integrity, legitimacy and acceptability of international law and the laws of war depend on the application of a single standard. The double standard that has been applied by international tribunals against the nation state of the Jewish people is demonstrated by the issuance of these arrest warrants. In opposing them, our group of lawyers hopes to bring justice to Israel and its leaders, as well as the rule of international law, which is being disgraced and destroyed by the ICC. We welcome others to join in this endeavor.

Alan Dershowitz is a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School and author of “War Against the Jews: How to End Hamas Barbarism.”