Daily News Brief

November 21, 2024

Top of the Agenda

The International Criminal Court (ICC) unanimously issued the warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif on charges of crimes against humanity. It cited Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel and Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip. The court’s prosecutor originally sought warrants for three Hamas officials but said it could confirm that two have since been killed in conflict. The Israeli military previously said it had killed Deif, too, in its operations. The court wrote in its decision there are reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population of Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival,” while Deif is responsible for “murder; extermination; torture; and rape and other forms of sexual violence.”

Netanyahu and other Israeli officials had criticized the requests for warrants as antisemitic, and Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the decision to issue them turned “the very system of justice into a human shield for Hamas’s crimes against humanity.” Israel—and the United States, where Netanyahu often travels—are not members of the ICC, which limits the practical effects of the warrant, given that only countries party to the court’s treaty are obligated to arrest him if he sets foot in their country. The United States rejected the ICC’s charges against Netanyahu when they were first introduced earlier this year, with some U.S. policymakers calling for sanctions on the court. Today’s warrants come as the war in Gaza continues to roil international politics, with the UN Security Council holding a vote yesterday on a resolution calling for an unconditional cease-fire. The United States said it vetoed the resolution because it was not contingent on an immediate hostage release. (NYT, ICC)

Analysis

“For the ICC there may be a risk, but at the end of the day what is the ICC supposed to do?” CFR expert David Scheffer told the Wall Street Journal in May when the case was brought forth. “Israel here has a rightful exercise of self-defense, a just war,” he said. “The issue is how do you conduct that just war. Prosecutor Khan is being presented with a scale of atrocity in warfare that is somewhat unprecedented for the ICC prosecutor to be confronted with.”

“Sanctions on ICC staff would undermine Washington’s efforts to bring Russia to justice for its crimes in Ukraine,” Yale University’s Oona A. Hathaway writes for Foreign Affairs. “The United States has long made advocacy for global criminal justice a key element of its foreign policy.” 

This Backgrounder by Claire Klobucista and CFR’s Mariel Ferragamo looks at the role of the ICC.

Europe

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia fired a new rocket overnight at Ukraine that has “all the characteristics” of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Russia, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the U.S. Defense Department did not immediately comment, while two unnamed U.S. officials told CBS News that the missile was not an ICBM. Ukraine, for its part, has now reportedly used U.S.- and UK-provided missiles to strike inside Russia. (CBS, Bloomberg) 

Spain: The country will grant residency and work permission to around three hundred thousand undocumented migrants annually who are already living inside the country for the next three years, Madrid said. The move aims to shore up the country’s aging workforce. (AP)

Pacific Rim

Hackers linked to North Korea’s intelligence agency were responsible for the theft of what was then $41.5 million worth of cryptocurrency assets, South Korean police said. The U.S. FBI cooperated in the probe, which was the first time North Korea had been pinned as the source of such an attack in South Korea. (Reuters)

In this tracker, CFR catalogs state-sponsored cyber operations around the world. 

China: Public protests in the country increased 27 percent last quarter from the same time last year, watchdog group Freedom House said. They came against a backdrop of economic strain. (Bloomberg)

South and Central Asia

U.S. attorneys said that Gautam Adani, one of India’s richest men, bribed Indian government officials to gain contracts and concealed them from U.S. investors. His company, the Adani Group, called the allegations “baseless and denied,” while India’s main opposition party renewed calls for a parliamentary probe into Adani’s dealings. He is a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (The Hindu, CNN)

Sri Lanka: New leftist president President Anura Kumara Dissanayake abruptly changed course from his campaign promise to renegotiate the country’s bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund, saying the economy “cannot take the slightest shock.” (AFP)

Middle East and North Africa

The board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is considering a motion from the United States, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom (UK) to censure Iran over its nuclear activities at a meeting in Vienna. They point to Tehran’s consistent refusal to answer IAEA inquiries on its nuclear enrichment program. The approval of the motion could lead to new retaliation against Iran from Western countries. (NYT) 

Sub-Saharan Africa

A decree read on state television said that Choguel Kokalla Maïga and his government had been “terminated.” Last week, Maïga called out the delay in Mali’s return to civilian rule following a pledge from the junta to hold elections in 2024. The junta has presided over a deterioration in security, according to a new evaluation from consultancy Verisk Maplecroft. (BBC, Bloomberg) 

DRC: Troops from the Southern African Development Community will remain in the Democratic Republic of Congo for another year on a mission to help the government fight against rebel groups. The mission was deployed in December 2023 with a one-year mandate. (Reuters)

This timeline looks at the legacy of intervention in eastern Congo.

Americas

The loan will be the first foreign currency operation for Brazil’s national development bank. It was announced yesterday during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Brasília marking fifty years of diplomatic relations. The leaders also agreed to expand access for some Brazilian agricultural products in China and cooperate on infrastructure investments, though Brazil opted not to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative. (Reuters, SCMP)

CFR’s Julia Huesa and Steven Holmes round up China’s recent activities across Latin America. 

Colombia: The rebel group Segunda Marquetalia is splitting in two, an official announced. The larger faction said it will continue to pursue peace talks with the Colombian government. (Reuters)

United States

The Department of Justice made its formal recommendation to a federal court late yesterday citing antitrust grounds. It is the latest step in a closely watched case that already saw a judge rule in August that Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search. Google’s president of global affairs called the DOJ sale proposal “wildly overboard.” (NYT)

The Why It Matters podcast explores how tech is taking over the helm of world order. 

COP29

A draft of this year’s main summit outcome—a new target for rich countries to contribute financially to poor ones—was released today without a numerical estimate attached, instead using placeholders. The vague draft was widely criticized at the summit; Colombia’s environment minister said that without those numbers, “we are negotiating on nothing.” The event is due to close tomorrow. (WaPo, AP)

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