Vexatious Legalisms

Levels of diplomatic Britishness continue as healthy as ever with His Majesty's Government attempting to use international law as a pretext for undermining the process of international law. The Ministry for Wogs, Frogs, Huns and Hottentots has proclaimed that the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction in Palestine, which lesser breeds thought settled three years ago, is open to question because of the Oslo accords which were signed three decades ago and which, like every other international agreement to which Israel is a party, apply to the Righteous State only at its own convenience. The manoeuvre is unlikely to have much effect at the ICC, which is notoriously insensitive to British values by virtue of being an international criminal court; but it may delay the decision as to whether an arrest warrant can be put out on the Netanyahoo and his chief henchman without Belsen re-opening for business or America bombing the Hague. Meanwhile, in their unhelpful way, mere experts have quibbled that His Majesty's Government may have allowed its cultural sympathy with the Righteous State's belief that laws are for little people to override Britain's almost-existent legal and humanitarian concerns over the Gaza indiscretion.