Former Italian Anti-Mafia Prosecutor Charges Israeli Prime Minister and Hamas with Genocide

Jan. 13—On Nov. 6, 2023, former Italian Mafia prosecutor Carlo Palermo filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, alleging genocide and requesting that arrest warrants be issued against Netanyahu and, “to be impartial,” against individual members of Hamas.

Palermo based his argument on the clear and massive evidence of dolus specialis (“special deceit”)—harm resulting form an act specifically intended to cause that harm, in the case of the perpetrator Prime Minister of Israel, with regard to the following warranted offenses:

(a) genocide against the people of Palestine in connection with the current invasion of the Gaza Strip;

(b) genocide against the population of Israel itself by reason of the unjustifiable failure to take appropriate preventive defense measures against the terrorist action of Hamas.

Israel has not recognized the ICC, as it has the International Court of Justice (IJC), but this should not be an impediment to a procedure, Palermo says, citing the precedent of the ICC warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country has also not recognized the ICC.

As to the allegations of terrorism and genocide against Netanyahu, Palermo wrote:

“Both charges are already considered proven by the public by on-the-ground facts, and, in particular, by the statements and declarations uttered by Netanyahu himself, with a conscious and malicious expansion of the targets to include the entire population—all announced publically and being carried out in current actions.

Both charges result from an extension to the entire State of Palestine and its people from Israel’s initial just and legitimate reaction to the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by elements of the Hamas terrorist organization. Now, the ever-increasing tens of thousands dead, wounded, or dying (mostly children and women), unrelated to membership in the Hamas terrorist organization;

“Both charges carry legal consequences. The pre-announced attacks against members of the Hamas terrorist organization are legitimate, but now the killing and destruction in the ongoing general invasion of the territory of the Gaza Strip, is illegitimate because the mass of victims were not and are not members of Hamas. Israel is has a conscious responsibility and dolus for the indiscriminate killing of an ever-increasing number of victims, proven by evidence and also consistent with the publicly disclosed intentions of the Prime Minister of Israel, himself, the features of which, highlighted below, are to be understood as notoriously and objectively documented:

• “Israel’s failure to declare a parliamentary state of war against Palestine;

• “The illegal invasion and occupation of the Gaza territorial strip;

• “The unacceptable and illegal compression and bestialization of the Palestinian population (particularly women and children) treated as animal herds without electricity, food and drinkable water supplies, essential to the minimum human living conditions, as protected under the UN Convention on Genocide;

• “The unacceptable and unjustifiable attack on the culture of the civilian population of Palestine;

• “The annihilation and malicious killing of a large part of the Palestinian people through violation of the principles of subjective personal responsibility and peoples’ rights protected by the Hague Convention;

• “The failure to heed calls for a cease-fire from, in particular, Europe, the United States, and the United Nations.”

Palermo’s two-page complaint, which he sent to both ICC Chief Prosecutor Mr. Karim A. A. Khan, KC and to Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, follows a strict legal profile, rather than a political one. This means that the allegations against Netanyahu and individual members of Hamas, are both based, or should be based, on evidence of individual responsibility. However, in the conclusion of his legal brief, Palermo raises the hypothesis that the conduct of the Israeli government could be motivated by economic interests involving the exploitation of the newly discovered “Leviathan” offshore gas field, that extends southward from the Israeli port of Haifa along the coast of Gaza to Egypt.

Although Palermo filed his complaint as a private citizen, he pre-qualified himself as “retired magistrate” with the rank of Appellate Councilor with eligibility for prosecutorial and judicial functions, with this additional biographical information:

• He is a victim of terrorism and the Mafia for the mafia-terrorist attack suffered in Trapani (Italy) April 2, 1985 while performing the duties of Deputy State Prosecutor in Trapani; with recognition of the quality of victim of terrorism with a certificate of the Commissioner of the Government of Trento and a gold medal as victim and invalid of terrorism;

• He is a former Member of the Italian Parliament in the 11th Legislature;

• He is currently a lawyer practicing before the Supreme Court of Cassation in Rome, defending multiple civil parties in Mafia crimes and massacres.

As a Member of Parliament in 1991, Palermo joined other colleagues in demanding action from President Bill Clinton to free unjustly incarcerated American statesman and former Presidential candidate, the physical economist Lyndon LaRouche.

Many intelligence specialists, including Israelis, believe that Netanyahu deliberately orchestrated the events of Oct. 7, causing the slaughter of Israeli citizens, to use as an excuse to launch his genocide campaign against the Palestinians of Gaza. One source reports that the Israel Defense Forces is investigating Oct. 7 and are looking into Netanyahu’s role.