APRIL 5 — History doesn’t knock politely. It kicks the door off its hinges, lights a Molotov cocktail, and asks if anyone still gives a damn.
This week, Viktor Orbán didn’t just walk away from the International Criminal Court (ICC) — he flipped the table, set the house on fire, and invited every autocrat and wannabe warlord to dance in the flames. And right behind him, grinning like the cat that ate the canary, was Benjamin Netanyahu, a man dodging arrest warrants like potholes in a Tel Aviv back alley.
Netanyahu called Orbán’s move “bold and principled.” Bold? Maybe. Principled? Please. That’s like calling a bank robber “fiscally adventurous.”
What’s worse is the parade of hypocrites lining up behind them.
Europe, that self-appointed guardian of international law, is suddenly performing moral gymnastics worthy of Olympic gold.
These are the same leaders who cheered when the ICC went after Putin, only to blanch like terrified schoolchildren when the court turned its gaze on Netanyahu.
Apparently, international justice is a buffet: they’ll take the caviar, but leave the war crimes indictments on the table.
Germany’s Annalena Baerbock, bless her, tried to hold the line. She called Netanyahu’s Budapest visit “a bad day for international law”.
But her colleagues? They’ve already folded like cheap umbrellas in a thunderstorm.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press at the US Capitol following his closed-door meeting with US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Republican from Louisiana, in Washington, DC February 7. — AFP pic
Olaf Scholz, Germany’s chancellor at the time, said he “couldn’t imagine” Netanyahu being arrested in Germany. Funny, Olaf — we can imagine it just fine.
France, land of liberté, égalité, et hypocrisie, suddenly found its tongue tied, mumbling that Netanyahu might enjoy immunity.
Downing Street gagged its own foreign secretary for daring to echo the ICC’s finding of breaches of international law.
And Trump? Trump is out there like a deranged carnival barker, slapping sanctions on anyone who dares to stand with the court.
This isn’t just cowardice. This is complicity.
Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, isn’t backing down.
Quoting King Lear, he warned that power dresses up sin in robes and gold, hiding it from justice. He knows the game. The powerful play dress-up, while the innocent bury their dead.
And if Khan fails — if we let him fail — we’re not just losing a court. We’re losing the last damn hope that global justice isn’t a rigged casino.
For those who think this is all theatre, think again.
Rodrigo Duterte is in The Hague answering for his blood-soaked drug war. Putin scrapped his trip to South Africa, fearing the handcuffs that awaited.
Even Netanyahu, for all his bluster, took the long way round to Washington, terrified that a European layover might turn into an international booking.
The ICC can work. The question is: will we let it?
Because this is it. No do-overs. No second chances. The architects of Nuremberg built the foundations of global justice from the ashes of a world on fire.
If we torch those foundations now, we may never rebuild them. And the tyrants, the warmongers, the men who think they own history? They’ll dance on the rubble.
So here’s the question that every leader, every citizen, every human being with a heartbeat needs to answer:
Are you with the law?Or with the lawless?
The world is watching. And history doesn’t forgive cowards.
