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Comment by mouveon | Hacker News Reader

Israel is so much of a democracy that netanyahu is prosecuted by the ICC court since almost a full year and still travels everywhere like a man free of guilt

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Prosecution is not equal to being guilty. In fact, during prosecution, he is still presumed innocent, only a trial that comes after the prosecution can find him guilty. "Innocent until proven guilty" is a basic tenet of jurisprudence, even in many non-democratic societies. For a democratic society, it is a necessary condition.

That Netanyahu still walks free is a consequence of a) Israel not being party to the ICC, therefore not bound to obey their prosecutors' requests and b) the countries he travels to not being party to the ICC either or c) the ICC member states he travels to guaranteeing diplomatic immunity as is tradition for an invited diplomatic guest.

c) is actually a problem, but not one of Israel being undemocratic, but of the respective member states being hypocrites for disobeying the ICC while still being members.

Prosecution isn’t actually the issue, the ICC have issued an arrest warrant for him.

“All 125 ICC member states, including France and the United Kingdom, are required to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant if they enter the state's territory”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Criminal_Court_a...

Same difference. The arrest warrant was issued by the ICC prosecutor as part of his prosecution. The arrest warrant was not issued by an ICC judge after having reached a "guilty" verdict. In any case, the states you name are under category c), they should arrest him but don't. Still not an issue of Israel being undemocratic whatsoever.

How is that related to the method of selecting the government of Israel?

Isn't that how most people who are being prosecuted behave, except those for whom the judge imposed a travel restriction?

The ‘war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts’ sounds like something that warrants locking someone up pending trial as a matter of safety.

If he isn’t guilty, defend the charge.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Criminal_Court...

Oh, there's an arrest warrant for him. That's different from what I had thought. I thought he had been arrested and released on bail pending the outcome of a trial, which is quite common in the US.

Does he "still travel everywhere"? The article mentions him travelling to Hungary and not being arrested despite Hungary having signed the treaty. The article doesn't mention him travelling anywhere else.

I question the legitimacy of the ICC, considering their impartiality and failure to take action against Hamas

Except they have. They issued an arrest warrant for Mohammed Deif, the Hamas military commander who if arrested would almost certainly stand trial.

Of course that won’t happen now since Israel got to him first.

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