Yousef M Aljamal Some 185 days after they were requested by prosecutor Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court last week issued warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ex-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Mohammed Deif, a Hamas commander. Many ask, will this make any difference? Will Israel end its genocide in Gaza? The answer is almost certainly “no.” Netanyahu, now a war crimes suspect at large, is very unlikely to adopt a course correction and neither are his Cabinet colleagues. Israeli officials will conjure up fresh excuses and lines of attack for public relations purposes. Already, Netanyahu has abused the fight against antisemitism by referring to a “modern Dreyfus trial,” in reference to an infamous incident from the 1890s, in which a Jewish French officer was falsely accused and convicted of treason before eventually being acquitted. At best, one or two around the Israeli Cabinet table might twitch at the thought they could be next. But many other Israelis in politics, the armed forces and security services should fear further warrants. No doubt, many would like to be able to travel freely, to see loved ones in other countries. Netanyahu is now 75, but younger military commanders may have years to endure any sanction. Undoubtedly, a failure by the International Criminal Court to agree to the arrest warrants would have been catastrophic for international law and the rules-based order. At least the court can now say that it does go after the friends of the big powers. It is not only for African leaders. This matters. It sends a message to wannabe war criminals. However powerful your friends may be, they cannot protect you from the international judicial system. State members of the court must honor their obligations and with gusto. This is a legal obligation, not a request. If any of the accused land in one of the 124 member states, they must be arrested and dispatched to The Hague. Some states have made clear they would do this. These include Italy and the Netherlands. On the flip side, there are states prepared to trash international law and the rules-based system led by the US. Some American politicians even threatened sanctions against historic allies like the UK and France if they were to help the International Criminal Court. Others referred to America’s so-called Hague Invasion Act, which permits the US to use all means necessary to free Americans or its allies detained on the court’s orders. Britain led the pack of those that gave equivocal responses. Ministers said they would respect the decision and abide by their legal obligations, but they would not be caught on camera saying the UK would arrest Netanyahu. Back in May 2023, when the court issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin of Russia, British ministers fell over themselves to welcome the historic decision, including Keir Starmer when he was opposition leader. Starmer has not personally commented on the new warrants. And who was shocked that the far-right Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban invited Netanyahu to come and visit his country? What was also startling was that much of the media coverage focused on the Israeli reaction and those of its allies, not the crimes themselves. Those states that welcomed the court’s decision were rarely mentioned. Absent from most coverage were the victims. Typically, they were not even cited as Palestinians. Readers and viewers might have been left wondering exactly what these war crimes and crimes against humanity were. The voice of the Palestinians, those who have lost loved ones and are at this moment being starved to death, were missing. Many in the media ignored the human rights community’s near-universal condemnation of Israel. It is hard to find a single human rights group that has not detailed and condemned the war crimes of which Netanyahu and Gallant are accused. What should happen now? International Criminal Court member states should be reviewing their entire relationship with Israel. Those with any moral integrity should, if they have not done so already, introduce a full arms ban and cease any military and security cooperation with Israel. All states should demand that Israel hands the accused over to the court. It should be a condition of future relations with Israel that this happens. But there are still questions for the court. Why have there been no warrants over the building of illegal Israeli settlements, which are clear violations of the Rome Statute? This should have been addressed years ago and, particularly following the July advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, which made the authoritative determination that the occupation was unlawful and the settlements had to go, the International Criminal Court should be questioned as to why action has not been taken. There is no dispute of fact. The settlements exist, are being expanded and are in occupied territory. Khan made it clear back in May that these warrants would almost certainly not be the last. Is he considering requesting arrest warrants for other Israeli and Hamas leaders? Israel has assassinated most Hamas leaders. But given the scale of atrocities that Palestinians are suffering every day, it is inconceivable that more Israeli figures will not be charged.Romania braces for parliamentary vote after far right's poll upsettpark 。

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Stocks closed higher on Wall Street, giving the market its fifth gain in a row and notching another record high for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% Friday. The Dow added 1%, and the Nasdaq composite tacked on 0.2%. Retailers had some of the biggest gains. Gap soared after reporting quarterly results that easily beat analysts’ estimates. EchoStar fell after DirecTV called off its purchase of that company’s Dish Network unit. European markets closed mostly higher and Asian markets ended mixed. Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market. Crude oil prices gained ground. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. Stocks rose on Wall Street in afternoon trading Friday, keeping the market on track for its fifth straight gain. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% and was solidly on track for a weekly gain that will erase most of last week's loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 333 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite was essentially flat with a gain of less than 0.1% as of 3:07 p.m. Eastern. Markets have been volatile over the last few weeks, losing ground in the runup to elections in November, then surging following Donald Trump's victory, before falling again. The S&P 500 has been steadily rising throughout this week to within close range of its record. “Overall, market behavior has normalized following an intense few weeks,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide, in a statement. Several retailers jumped after giving Wall Street encouraging financial updates. Gap soared 10.8% after handily beating analysts' third-quarter earnings and revenue expectations, while raising its own revenue forecast for the year. Discount retailer Ross Stores rose 1.5% after raising its earnings forecast for the year. EchoStar fell 2.4% after DirecTV called off its purchase of that company's Dish Network unit. Smaller company stocks had some of the biggest gains. The Russell 2000 index rose 1.8%. A majority of stocks in the S&P 500 were gaining ground, but those gains were kept in check by slumps for several big technology companies. Nvidia fell 3.3%. Its pricey valuation makes it among the heaviest influences on whether the broader market gains or loses ground. The company has grown into a nearly $3.6 trillion behemoth because of demand for its chips used in artificial-intelligence technology. Intuit, which makes TurboTax and other accounting software, fell 5.6%. It gave investors a quarterly earnings forecast that fell short of analysts’ expectations. Facebook owner Meta Platforms fell 0.8% following a decision by the Supreme Court to allow a multibillion-dollar class action investors’ lawsuit to proceed against the company. It stems from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm. European markets closed mostly higher and Asian markets ended mixed. Crude oil prices rose. Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.41% from 4.42% late Thursday. In the crypto market, Bitcoin hovered around $99,000, according to CoinDesk. It has more than doubled this year and first surpassed the $99,000 level on Thursday. Retailers remained a big focus for investors this week amid close scrutiny on consumer spending habits headed into the holiday shopping season. Walmart, the nation's largest retailer, reported a quarter of strong sales and gave investors an encouraging financial forecast. Target, though, reported weaker earnings than analysts' expected and its forecast disappointed Wall Street. Consumer spending has fueled economic growth, despite a persistent squeeze from inflation and high borrowing costs. Inflation has been easing and the Federal Reserve has started trimming its benchmark interest rates. That is likely to help relieve pressure on consumers, but any major shift in spending could prompt the Fed to reassess its path ahead on interest rates. Also, any big reversals on the rate of inflation could curtail spending. Consumer sentiment remains strong, according to the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index. It revised its latest figure for November to 71.8 from an initial reading of 73 earlier this month, though economists expected a slight increase. It's still up from 70.5 in October. The survey also showed that consumers' inflation expectations for the year ahead fell slightly to 2.6%, which is the lowest reading since December of 2020. Wall Street will get another update on how consumers feel when the business group The Conference Board releases its monthly consumer confidence survey on Tuesday. A key inflation update will come on Wednesday when the U.S. releases its October personal consumption expenditures index. The PCE is the Fed's preferred measure of inflation and this will be the last PCE reading prior to the central bank's meeting in December.