The Pope & The ICC’s Complicit Path to Hypocrisy and Injustice

•The International Criminal Court’s stance on neutrality proves that not only is its justice blind, but it is also incredibly stupid

Recent developments with the International Criminal Court have magnified the global pandemic of hypocrisy proving once again how neutrality is often a thin and absurd veil for blatant bias and moral failure. Significant ink has already been spilled by more rational minds but it is an opportunity to consider the entire concept of neutrality.

Elie Wiesel famously once said, “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” There is nothing more morally reprehensible and repugnant than a government or entity cloaking themselves in a veneer of neutrality and impartiality. History and current events offer a repetitive theme of just how corrupt fence-sitting truly is. I would go as far as to suggest that “neutrality” is the opposite of good and possibly to the left of evil.

Neutrality is not a Jewish trait. We are an outspoken people and abhor complicity through silence. For better or for worse, we are always outspoken on social issues and never quiet in calling out injustices. The Bible is filled with examples where silence is condemned starting with God calling out Cain in response to his “Am I my brothers’ keeper?” It is very much an ongoing theme and historically consistent with our behavior. In recent history, we have always stood front and center to make sure our voices have been heard when calling out injustice.

When you think about declared neutrality, you think of Switzerland, complicit in financing the nazis, returning Jewish refugees directly into the hands of the Germans and happily pilfering the bank accounts and insurance policies of countless Jewish victims. Obviously, they have also been the convenient banker for drug cartels, despots, and dictators over the years.

Another excellent example is the Red Cross (Swiss-based), a classic “neutral” organization unless of course the victims happen to be Jewish, as seen during the Holocaust or more recently in Gaza. They went as far as to not even allow a Jewish State to affiliate their emergency services with their international organization, because of their refusal to recognize the Star of David, the age-old Jewish symbol. They had no problem recognizing the Crescent, which is the Muslim symbol, and it was only in 2005 that the Red Cross agreed to a compromise, the “Red Crystal”, but still refused to recognize the Star of David.

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Sports organizations like UEFA, FIFA, and the International Olympic Committee (all Swiss-based) have long traded neutrality for corruption. While their failings may seem trivial compared to global geopolitics, they erode the very notion of fair play. This betrayal instills in younger generations a disillusionment with justice, replacing ideals of integrity with cynicism.

The UN and its alphabet soup of acronymed cronies, another neutral body that dedicates a disproportionate amount of time and resources to hounding Israel out of existence. We could live with the condemnations, but it is the terror facilitation services that they provide in the name of neutrality, that cross over from name calling to actual sticks and stones.

That brings us to the upper echelons of pseudo neutrality, where powerful religious institutions, who are presumably not motivated by avarice and supposedly answer to a higher power, become so neutral that they are occasionally enablers of genocide. While the Spanish office of the Inquisition was formally abolished in 1834, the Vatican version was never shuttered, merely rebranded. Most recently in 2022, Pope Francis renamed it once again, because Inquisition related merchandise does not market well.

The active “neutrality” of the Pope during the Second World War offered tacit support to the nazi regime. Less known is that it was only in 1948 that the Rabbis of Rome finally refused to be marched annually underneath the Arch of Titus. This was done every year on Tisha B’av, the date recorded in Jewish history to commemorate the destruction of the Temple by the Romans. This act was designed to humiliate and subjugate the European Jewish population and to serve as a yearly reminder of their crushing defeat. It is worth pointing out that the Vatican no longer having its own army is protected and defended by none other than the Swiss Guard.

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Which brings us to the present. Just a few weeks ago families of the hamas hostages, visited with the Pope, hoping to receive his support and perhaps leverage his international presence as a voice for their desperate plight. His response and efforts in this regard, could be described as lukewarm if generous and ambivalent if we are being honest. Less than a week later, the Pope turned around and suggested in his upcoming book, that Israel needs to be investigated for genocide. This has now become the modern-day trope equivalent of a blood libel, with which the church has some experience. Despite our tempered expectations, it still comes as a painful reminder that we do not need their indulgences and when we did, they were not forthcoming.

The Pope’s selective outrage served as a dog whistle for the ICC to issue its threatened warrants, and together they prove that neutrality is not just a failure of justice, it is a weapon wielded against it. The lesson that we must finally learn, is that it is time to reassess our friendships and confront the harsh realities of our circumstances in order to protect our future. We no longer need to accept the symbolic subjugation of those who feign impartiality and claim refuge in a higher power. They have clearly demonstrated where their interests lie and perhaps could benefit from the assistance of a reflective surface to analyze their own sins before casting stones.