ICC justice for Netanyahu? Maybe not — but the arrest warrant still changes everything

Despite their growing irrelevance in enforcing accountability, The Hague’s courts still shape the global narrative around justice

Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Gaza City. Picture: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP

In school, most of us learned about The Hague the way one learns about algebra or Shakespeare — with begrudging reverence.

A solemn Dutch city, home to two of the most formidable-sounding institutions ever cooked up by the sober minds of the post-Second World War West — the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC). One for disputes between states. The other for the monsters among us — war criminals, genocidaires, and heads of state with more skeletons than mistresses.