Instead of achieving redemption, the International Criminal Court (ICC) further reinforced its image as a hypocritical institution that targets small nations while yielding to powerful ones, as seen in its arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte had described the ICC as dispensing “white man’s justice,” which punishes the weak and spares the strong.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad called out the ICC, pointing out that Duterte is locked up for his war on drugs while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accused of worse crimes with thousands dead, roams free.

Mahathir’s plain assessment is that the ICC only strikes when someone can’t fight back, particularly with the quarry’s government conspiring with it.

Duterte’s been in a cell in The Hague since 11 March, but Netanyahu, facing an arrest warrant since November, just visited the US and plans to make a state visit to Hungary next.

Regional analyst Sholto Byrnes, based in Abu Dhabi, said the ICC’s warrants mean nothing to those who are big enough. Russian President Vladimir Putin got a warm welcome in Mongolia, an ICC member, last September.

Germany’s next leader, Friedrich Merz, promised Netanyahu a free pass to visit. Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing, another ICC target, sits safely at home.

Duterte’s lead counsel, Nicholas Kaufman, calls the ICC going after the former leader a political hit job while Netanyahu’s crew just shrugs off his warrant as biased nonsense.

United States President Donald Trump even passed a law to bust Americans out of The Hague if needed.

Dragging Duterte across the world may look like justice to some, but it feeds the idea that he’s a victim of a western game.

Mahathir’s words summarized the problem of the ICC being not blind but making prejudice a standard in addressing alleged crimes against humanity.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu last November for alleged war crimes in Gaza in the aftermath of the 7 October 2023 massacre of Israelis and civilians of several nations by rampaging Hamas terrorists.

Netanyahu indicated plans to visit Hungary next month, marking his first visit to a European country after the ICC issued the arrest warrant against him and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant.

Byrnes cited Putin being given the red-carpet treatment when he visited Mongolia, an ICC member, while Netanyahu acts as though his arrest warrant doesn’t even exist.

Germany’s presumptive chancellor Friedrich Merz has said the country’s ICC membership would not stand in the way of Netanyahu’s visit.

“I have promised myself that we will find a way to ensure that he can visit Germany and leave without being arrested,” Merz said.

The ICC has been plagued with criticism that in its eleven-year history it has prosecuted only Africans.

While the image rebuilding of leaders of non-members Russia, Israel and the Philippines lately has raised the prominence of the ICC on the international stage, it only highlights the reality that those powerful enough, or the indispensable allies of the global titans, are exempted.

“There are plenty of countries that will ignore the ICC’s rulings,” Byrnes said.

He said a common reason given by those who dismiss the authority of the ICC is the belief that some charges are politically motivated, similar to what Mr. Duterte’s supporters are saying.

Political motivation in legal cases “have a lot of currency in Southeast Asia,” Byrnes added.

“I would ask whether flying Mr Duterte to The Hague to be tried is a wise move. If he claims political victimization and being sent off to a faraway land to receive ‘white man’s justice,’ there’ll be plenty who will believe him,” according to Byrnes.

The growing protests, primarily by Filipinos working overseas, against the ICC’s “illegal detention” of Duterte have sparked a deeper distrust of organizations that impose western standards, similar to the prejudice many countries resisted during their colonial past.