MALAYSIA is right in condemning the double standards of the West. If anything killed international law, Western hypocrisy must be it. Sure, international law was wheeled into intensive care several times in the past, but this time, it must be pronounced dead.
If a precise date is needed, Oct 7 must be it. And the irony is, those who stand charged with the killing of international law are the very same passionate peddlers of global human rights, justice and peace.
Witness how they celebrated the 75th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights in Geneva on Dec 10, the day it was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1948.
The UDHR was supposed to be "a common standard for all peoples and nations", but in reality it wasn't from day one. Western double standards dictate who is and isn't human enough to deserve the rights. There is earlier evidence of this, but a blatant one has been on display in the occupied Palestinian territories since Oct 7.
It is a shame that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has become a puppet of the West, springing into action only when it dictates the court so. We saw this in the case of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Within weeks, its chief prosecutor Karim Khan opened a war crimes investigation against Russian leaders and soldiers. The official story for the unheard-of speed is that an unprecedented number of countries — 39 — were pushing for the inquiry. But we know the real reason.
To give the 39 a just chance at defence, we ask them why aren't they doing the same for the Palestinians? Not human enough? In early March last year, Khan told the British media that individuals have rights to have their interests vindicated and for justice to prevail.
What about Palestinians' rights, interests and justice? If directing attacks against civilians amounts to a war crime, as he told the British media, then why isn't an arrest warrant issued against Benjamin Netanyahu? We know why. Either the ICC chooses not to or is not allowed to.
To be fair, the ICC did try its hand at justice under chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, Khan's predecessor, but when she opened investigations against American soldiers, the incorrigible Donald Trump issued an executive order sanctioning her and others. Bensouda was hounded, too, when she opened investigations against the Israelis.
This time it was Britain's Trump act-alike Boris Johnson who was mouthing the words of the Zionist lobbyists in London. This is blatant murder of international law. United States President Joe Biden lifted the sanctions a year later, but the geopolitical point was made: power trumps law in dealings with the not-so powerful.
Call it the seduction of an idea promoted by a Greek historian of old, Thucydides: right, wrong and justice only matter in dealings among equals. Here is his ancient idea put in modern English: "Rights, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must." We may forgive Thucydides for such primitive ideas.
After all, his Athens was an ancient world. But why be trapped by such savage ideas in our so-called civilised world? Primitive ideas such as these aren't sustainable. It is time to rebalance geopolitics. Justice must be made to trump power.