International Legal System in Face of Double Standards

As the world grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic, many Western theorists in international relations acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding the future of the global order. They concluded that there is no single assured future scenario until 2030.

They offered a few possible scenarios: the end of the global liberal order; authoritarian regimes reminiscent of the 1930s; a world dominated by China; a relative decline of the United States in the global system, and a significant decrease in its prestige; an international green agenda; and major local changes concerning healthcare and education.

However, I argue that the global order, as envisioned by these theorists, is actually experiencing and will continue to experience its worst crises. New determinants and unprecedented constraints have emerged.

The pandemic, along with current events, has revealed that the global system is sick and selfish, exhibiting double standards in decision-making by major players. Everything is starting to change in the current and upcoming phases.

Western reactions to the request by Karim Khan, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of committing crimes against humanity in Gaza since October 8, illustrate these double standards.

These crimes include "starving civilians as a method of warfare" and "deliberately targeting civilian populations."

This call was met with strong opposition from the United States and other Western countries, which collectively believe that international justice cannot touch the pillars of the Western liberal order and its allies, but only African regimes, which they perceive as outside of history, or other despised Western regimes like that of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

American opposition to the ICC peaked during former President Donald Trump's administration, when sanctions were imposed on court members, and the previous Prosecutor's bank accounts were frozen.

This was understandable considering Trump's foreign policy towards international organizations and courts. However, all of this was reversed under current President Joe Biden, to the extent that the U.S. Attorney General made the first-ever visit to the ICC last year to support the arrest warrant issued against the Russian President.

Yet, any attempt to challenge the higher interests outlined in the global order by its major players, led by the United States, is not accepted and actively opposed. President Biden openly criticized Khan's efforts to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials, calling them "shameful."

Similarly, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized Khan, questioning the "legitimacy and credibility of this investigation." U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, described Khan's decision to seek arrest warrants as "baseless and illegitimate."

Khan understands how the global system operates, which is why he stated that all attempts to disrupt, intimidate, or improperly influence ICC officials must cease immediately.

Another example is Ireland, Norway, and Spain's announcement recognizing the State of Palestine from May 28. While the Arab League quickly welcomed this move, it angered Israel and its ally, the U.S. But where is the pivotal state in Europe, France? We all remember when the Bush administration wanted to intervene in Iraq in 2003, some Western countries, notably France, opposed it in the name of legal and international legitimacy and the philosophy that states should align in an unknown military attack on a sovereign state.

This legal-philosophical belief today obliges countries like France to be among the first, along with Ireland, Norway, and Spain, to recognize the State of Palestine; but this has not happened, at least not yet.

Those giving lectures at the Sorbonne or some American universities these weeks will understand the protests by their students, most of whom are not of Arab descent.

They have realized that the Western smile is hypocritical and no longer appealing, and that the policy of double standards in the global system must end. 

Translated by Ahmad El-Assasy