Accountability is essential—perpetrators must face justice, including leaders of Hamas. Yet, this emphasis on individuals risks obscuring the systemic oppression and societal frameworks that enabled these figures to rise and act unchecked. It’s a pattern we’ve seen throughout history, from Adolf Hitler to Donald Trump: casting a single individual as the embodiment of evil oversimplifies the issue and lets the underlying systems of power escape scrutiny. By giving the devil a face, we inadvertently allow the true forces behind the atrocities to evade accountability—and to persist.
This focus on the figurehead is a distraction. The atrocities committed by Netanyahu are not isolated incidents but symptoms of deeply entrenched structures of power and oppression. If we concentrate only on jailing or condemning these individuals, we lose sight of the systemic change required to dismantle the forces that empower such leaders in the first place. The fight against terrorism, genocide, or tyranny cannot end with the removal of one figure, because the conditions that created them—and will create others like them—still exist.
True justice requires more than punishment. It demands a restructuring of power, a redistribution of wealth, and the dismantling of hierarchies that perpetuate inequality and privilege, whether under the guise of a chosen people or an elite class. So while the ICC’s actions deserve recognition, we must not be fooled into thinking that the story begins and ends with Netanyahu. The roots of oppression run deep, and unless we address them, new weeds will inevitably grow.