Citizen Resistance: Swiss Lawyers Take Their Own Foreign Minister to the ICC Over Alleged Gaza War Crimes

“Resistance is futile,” Fintan O’Toole wrote in The New York Review of Books, referring to countries in the Western Hemisphere forced to accept U.S. hegemony. But is resistance really futile today?  “At the moment, there are so many moving pieces that doing something for the sake of doing something could be a massive waste of energy,” a friend wrote to me. Multiple moving pieces – political, social, and economic – are all mixed together, discouraging some efforts at resistance and making others seem “a massive waste of energy.” Yet creative and potentially meaningful forms of resistance are taking place.

A striking example of creative resistance comes from Switzerland, where around twenty Swiss lawyers have taken the extraordinary step of turning international law against their own foreign minister, Ignazio Cassis, by submitting a “communication” to the International Criminal Court (ICC). (A “communication” to the ICC is not a formal indictment.) The lawyers accuse Cassis of complicity with Israel in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Gaza. They argue that Cassis, as Switzerland’s foreign minister, bears responsibility for Swiss policies that violate the Geneva Conventions and fail to uphold International Humanitarian Law (IHL). This is the first time a Swiss minister has been named in a case submitted to the ICC in The Hague.

IHL and Switzerland are so closely linked that this initiative carries significant symbolic weight. The 1949 Geneva Conventions, which established international legal protection for human rights during armed conflict and require the humane treatment of soldiers, prisoners, and civilians, are called the Geneva Conventions because they were negotiated and signed in Geneva. Nearly 196 countries – essentially all United Nations member states and observers – are parties to the Conventions. Geopolitically, they are part of the DNA of International Geneva, a cornerstone of Swiss neutrality, and a founding principle of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which was also established in Geneva.

The charges against the Swiss Foreign Minister

It is precisely because Switzerland is so connected with these Conventions that the accusations against Cassis are so remarkable. A Swiss foreign minister complicit in war crimes? According to the lawyers, Cassis could have cut off Swiss commercial ties with Israel, could have continued financing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) – headed by a Swiss diplomat – and blocked exports of dual-use arms to Israel. They also argue that he could have used his diplomatic, moral, and economic influence to halt the genocide. As foreign minister and a member of the seven-person Federal Council, Cassis could also have reminded the entire Council of their obligations to uphold both the Geneva Conventions and the 1948 Genocide Convention.

Before becoming foreign minister, Cassis served in the Swiss Parliament, where he was a member—and vice president from 2011 to 2017—of the Parliament’s “Israel Friendship Group.” During that time, he publicly praised Swiss–Israeli relations as “good, friendly, and diverse.” These political ties make the lawyers’ accusations not only legal but also political, raising questions about how Cassis’ past affiliations may have influenced Switzerland’s policy toward Israel.

Switzerland’s government has acknowledged receipt of the lawyers’ communication to the ICC, but has declined to comment. There has been no confirmation that an investigation will proceed, nor any indication that the government will challenge the submission. Only the ICC prosecutor can decide whether to open an official investigation, and there is currently no formal indictment or court case.

The letter against the foreign minister was no great surprise in Switzerland. In late August 2025, about 60 former diplomats wrote an open letter to the Swiss Federal Council proposing several concrete measures to ensure Israel’s compliance with IHL in Gaza. No concrete action followed.

The lawyers’ initiative did not emerge in a vacuum. Their letter to the ICC is part of a growing movement of citizens holding their own governments accountable. In 2025, Italian legal experts filed a similar complaint with the ICC, accusing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and other ministers of complicity in Israel’s genocide and related crimes. Similar advocacy has also emerged in France. Together, these three cases – Switzerland, Italy and France – highlight a European effort for individual accountability through the ICC.

Ineffective state legal action against Israel

These citizen-led efforts are unfolding against the reality that international legal mechanisms have so far failed to restrain Israel’s actions in Gaza. The horrific situation continues. Local Gaza reports indicate that at least hundreds of people have been killed since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025 — and that deaths continued into January and early February 2026 in spite of the ceasefire. The United Nations Office at Geneva reported that around 77 % of the population in Gaza continued to suffer acute hunger in late 2025 even after the ceasefire, with the rest facing chronic food deprivation. UNICEF reported Gaza’s winter brought cold temperatures, heavy rains, flooding and windstorms, which worsened living conditions for the displaced.

States have tried—at least formally—to intervene through international courts and institutions. Yet a widening gap remains between legal principle and political enforcement. Citizen-led initiatives may offer a new path to accountability, but their effectiveness depends on the response of the International Criminal Court.

The ICC has struggled to bring leaders to justice such as Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu, raising the question whether the Court will be more assertive with Cassis, Meloni, and Emmanuel Macron. While Putin and Netanyahu seem impervious to their indictments, how will Cassis, Meloni or Macron react if they were indicted for complicity in war crimes and genocide? How will their citizens and colleagues respond?

Ultimately, these cases reveal the limits and possibilities of resistance and global justice. While some may dismiss citizen-led initiatives as “a massive waste of energy,” they represent a creative form of resistance, one rooted closer to citizens and society than formal state mechanisms. The ICC remains the final authority, yet the very fact that citizens, rather than states, are taking action is significant. For that reason alone, the Swiss initiative and similar ones elsewhere, should be encouraged and followed.

The post Citizen Resistance: Swiss Lawyers Take Their Own Foreign Minister to the ICC Over Alleged Gaza War Crimes appeared first on CounterPunch.org.