Netanyahu’s Systemic Torture, Genocidal Violence: ICC’s Bribery Allegations

Netanyahu’s Systemic Torture, Genocidal Violence: ICC’s Bribery Allegations

By Bing Jabadan – TheNATIONWEEK.com | March 25, 2026

GENEVA | THE HAGUE – A recent United Nations report has intensified scrutiny on Israel, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime of systematic torture and genocidal violence against Palestinians, describing “torture as state policy.”

Concurrently, the International Criminal Court (ICC) faces its own crisis of credibility, battling accusations of bribery in the detention of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte while struggling to enforce an arrest warrant against Netanyahu.

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese’s scathing report, “Torture and Genocide,” presented to the UN Human Rights Council, alleges a “continuum of physical and mental suffering” in the occupied Palestinian territories, sanctioned at the highest political levels.

The report details “organized humiliation, pain, and degradation,” extending beyond interrogation rooms to “collective punishment” through mass displacement, siege, and the denial of aid, which it categorizes as “genocidal violence.”

Since October 7, 2023, Gaza’s Ministry of Health reports at least 72,263 deaths and 171,944 injuries from Israeli attacks. In the occupied West Bank, over 18,500 Palestinians have been arrested.

Albanese urged UN member states to “prevent and punish” these acts, warning that continued tolerance would “strip the law of meaning.”

Adding a volatile geopolitical layer, a four-week US-Israel-Iran war has escalated, marked by joint US-Israeli airstrikes (codenamed “Epic Fury”) that reportedly killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

However, European NATO members are reportedly refusing to deploy naval assets to the Strait of Hormuz under US command, citing concerns over the US’s “one-sided stance” in the Israel-Palestine conflict and the deepening humanitarian crisis.

Amid these developments, the ICC’s authority is being severely tested. In 2025, the US imposed sanctions on ICC judges following the issuance of arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged genocidal war in Gaza and crimes against humanity.

Critics highlight the perceived impotence of these warrants against a powerful state leader like Netanyahu, contrasting it sharply with the ICC’s successful imposition of an arrest warrant against 80-year-old former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is currently detained in The Hague despite appeals for interim release. 

Compounding this disparity, serious allegations have emerged, accusing ICC judges of receiving bribe money to facilitate Duterte’s arrest and transport to The Hague.

This juxtaposition – an unheeded warrant for Netanyahu against the swift detention of Duterte, intertwined with corruption allegations – casts a long shadow over the ICC’s impartiality and effectiveness, raising critical questions about international justice and accountability in a deeply fractured global landscape.