Dis Israel assassinate Iran’s President?

Today, Iran’s government announced that its President, Ebrahim Raisi, and its Foreign Minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, had died in a helicopter crash. The crash occurred in northwest Iran, near the border with Azerbaijan.

Did Israel assassinate Raisi?

Iran’s investigation into the cause of the crash has only begun, but one question that is certain to be considered is whether the helicopter was brought done by sabotage. That question looms large after Raisi ordered a successful drone and missile attack on Israel on April 13.

After Iran’s confirmation that its President had died, I discussed with Lebanon-based geopolitical analyst, Laith Marouf, the question of whether Israel might have brought down the helicopter in some manner.

The ICC prosecutor indicts Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant

Also today, the so-called ‘prosecutor’ of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, announced he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and three senior Hamas officials.

In the second half of my discussion with Marouf, we examined Khan’s allegations against Netanyahu and Gallant.

I explained that Khan’s allegations against Israel’s leaders are extremely limited. For example, Khan has charged no Israeli official with genocide despite the ICJ’s January 26, 2024 ruling that it’s plausible Israel is committing genocide.

Moreover, in his announcement, Khan packaged his allegations against Netanyahu and Gallant as being less severe than his allegations against Hamas.

This all smacks of pandering to Israel’s Western backers, who have threatened openly to punish ICC prosecutors for enforcing international law against Israel’s genocidal regime.

You can watch and listen to my discussion with Marouf here: