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The International Criminal Court on Shaky Ground
(Washington Post) Editorial - A dozen years after its creation, the International Criminal Court is foundering. So far it has brought just 21 cases in eight countries, all of them in Africa. The U.S., Russia, China, India, Israel and every Arab nation but Jordan have declined to join. The court's purpose was to prevent the world's worst war and human rights crimes from going unpunished. But the guilty escaped sanction, and the court's deterrence effect is looking weak. ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda will be put on the spot if the Palestinian Authority elects to accede to the ICC treaty and bring charges against Israel for its actions in the West Bank and Gaza. In that case the court would be theoretically obligated to simultaneously investigate crimes by Hamas and other Palestinian groups, but might find it practically as well as politically easier to zero in on Israel. That would be an error that could destroy the ICC's chances of gaining international credibility.