INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has raged for decades, with each side accusing the other of human rights abuses and war crimes. But in 2024, an unprecedented case was brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague - one that threatened to upend the political landscape of the Middle East.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian militant group Hamas were both charged with grave breaches of international law stemming from the devastating 2021 Gaza War. For Netanyahu, it was a staggering fall from grace for the political titan who had dominated Israeli politics for over a decade. And for Hamas, an organization branded a terrorist group by much of the West, the ICC prosecution represented an escalation that could rewrite its role on the global stage.

In this explosive work of investigative journalism, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Frayn draws upon exclusive interviews and never-before-seen documents to reconstruct the explosive ICC case from start to finish. He takes readers behind the closed doors of The Hague's judicial chambers, offering a front-row seat to the legal drama as it unfolded.

With tenacious reporting and incisive analysis, Frayn explores the core allegations that Hamas systematically used Palestinian civilians as human shields, while Israel's military campaigns caused disproportionate harm to Gaza's people. He examines whether Netanyahu's aggressive settlement policies in the West Bank crossed into the realm of criminality. No party is spared scrutiny as Frayn chronicles the uphill legal battle waged by ICC prosecutors and the vigorous pushback from Netanyahu's defense attorneys.

At its heart, this book is a sweeping saga about justice, accountability, and the perpetual quest for a resolution to one of the world's most intractable conflicts. Frayn's narrative zeroes in on the influential figures on both sides - from victims' families to military commanders to the lawyers arguing passionately over issues with profound human consequences. Key players like Netanyahu and Hamas's Ismail Haniyeh emerge as tragically human characters motivated by a complex blend of ideology, ego, and circumstances.

With its scope and literary flair, INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL is both a definitive account of a landmark legal case and a gripping tale that encapsulates the Israeli-Palestinian struggle writ large. Frayn's masterwork is ultimately an indictment of the profound human toll of this cyclical conflict, and perhaps a faint source of hope that the rule of law can play a restraining role where political solutions have failed. This is the seminal work for any reader hoping to grasp one of the 21st century's most momentous human rights trials.

Dettagli