ICC applies double standards – law professor

The UN court is showing “weakness” in its inability to stop Israeli violations of international law in Gaza, Salam Abdel Samad has said

The International Criminal Court (ICC) uses double standards in its approach which have cost the organization its credibility, UAE-based attorney and law professor Salam Abdel Samad has said.

The expert agrees with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who in late February blamed the ICC for being biased and issuing politically motivated warrants. Fico said that just a few years ago, he considered the Hague-based court to be an “important” and respectable organization, but now it is “only causing laughs.”

During his live appearance on RT on Wednesday, Abdel Samad said that he shares Fico’s assessment of the ICC’s current position.

There can be “no doubt” that the UN body has largely lost its credibility “because we are meeting, right now, a double standard.”

“What is permissible and acceptable for some countries – is not acceptable for others,” he said.

The fact that Israeli violations of international law in Gaza are continuing despite the ICC issuing an arrest warrant for the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year is a sign of the court’s “weakness,” the attorney insisted.