The International Criminal Court has yet to pursue a case on behalf of the family of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, who were abducted from their home during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and later murdered by the Iran-backed terrorist group.
Ariel Bibas, 4, his 9-month-old brother Kfir and their mother, Shiri, became among the most recognizable faces of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza. All three were killed. Now Shiri’s uncle, Maurice Shnaider, is seeking justice for them.
Before ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan was removed over misconduct, he oversaw the court’s controversial 2024 arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas terror commander Mohammad Deif. The warrants alleged various war crimes and crimes against humanity.
This combination of pictures created on February 20, 2025, shows posters bearing the portraits of Israeli hostages Shiri Bibas (C) and her two sons Ariel (L) and Kfir (R), held in the Gaza Strip since the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas terrorists. The three were brutally murdered by terrorists. (AFP Via Getty Images)
Legal expert Elliot Malin told News Media that Khan’s ICC pursued “selective justice.” Malin, who filed two cases with the Office of the Prosecutor in 2025, is seeking warrants for leaders he accuses of committing war crimes, including genocide, in Israel and Gaza.
Malin, president of Stratos Council, submitted his first ICC case in September 2025. It asked the court to investigate and issue warrants for two Iranian officials over “crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide committed in Israel and Gaza on and after Oct. 7, 2023.” Malin said, “It is very clear that the Islamic Republic is the principal to these proxies who are operating as agents of the regime… and we should hold the Islamic Republic directly accountable.”
The request was filed on behalf of Shnaider. His submissions state that he has lost five generations of relatives to “acts committed with the intent to destroy Jews,” including the Holocaust.
Hanukkah candles were lit in The Hostages and Missing Square, on Dec. 9, 2023, in Tel Aviv, Israel at places set at a festival table for the Bibas family, an Israeli family including 11-month-old baby Kfir, his 4-year-old brother Ariel and their parents Shiri and Yarden. They were being held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (David Silverman/Getty Images)
Shnaider told News Media that on Oct. 7 he turned on the television and saw his niece, Shiri Bibas, “being taken away” with her young children. Bibas and both boys were later murdered in captivity. Shnaider said he prays that she “didn’t witness how they did what they did to a four-year-old and a nine-month-old.”
Shnaider’s sister and brother-in-law were also killed at Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7. He said they “were burned inside the house in a brutal way that you cannot imagine, you cannot explain, you cannot answer.” By the time they were buried, he added, “there was hardly anything left” to place in the caskets.
Shnaider said the grief caused by his family’s losses “doesn’t compute in my body,” leaving him “choking” through tears. Although he said he would never understand the logic of hatred, he added, “the most I can do is fight them in the way I can.” He believes the ICC must now “put a stop to it.” If the court does not act, Shnaider said, it “should be condemned” for bias.
Flag with the logo of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on March 29, 2022, in Den Haag, Netherlands. (Alex Gottschalk/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Although the case against Iranian leaders was filed solely on behalf of the Shnaider family, Malin supports bringing similar cases for every family that lost relatives in the Oct. 7 attacks.
In December 2025, Malin filed a second case seeking investigations and arrest warrants for more than a dozen Hamas members over alleged “war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed against Palestinians in Gaza.”
Iran internet blackout hardens into permanent digital repression system as regime treats citizens’ access as an existential threat after protests. ( Stringer/Getty Images)
Malin also said Hamas leaders must be held “directly accountable for the crime of genocide.” He argued that the attackers’ statements demonstrate that the Oct. 7 assault, in which civilians were largely killed, had no military objective.
According to Malin, Hamas attackers told victims on Oct. 7 that they would continue fighting in Israel “until there are no Jews left in Palestine.” In phone calls to relatives, one attacker also celebrated having killed Jews.
“They’re not talking about soldiers. They’re not talking about people who, in the course of combat or conflict, would be allowed to be targeted. They’re talking about civilians,” Malin said.
Malin said those attempting to justify Hamas’ actions on Oct. 7 “are now justifying the actual crime of genocide.”
Hamas terrorists emerge in a show of strength escorting Red Cross vehicles carrying 3 Israeli hostages to be released as part of the cease-fire deal. (TPS-IL)
The case against Hamas leaders also notes their particular role in the deaths of innocent Gazans during the conflict that followed Oct. 7. “The goal there is to raise light of Hamas’ criminal conduct against Palestinians in Gaza,” Malin said. He pointed out Hamas’ use of civilians as human shields and their torture of civilians, which he says “we have years of evidence for.”
Malin said that the ICC has not responded to either of the cases he has filed. “If we don’t shed light on that at the ICC and the ICC refuses to do anything about it, then the only question for me… is what is the purpose that you serve?”
Malin argues that though the Iranian officials, one of whom was killed during the ongoing conflict with the U.S., were from a state that is not party to the statute, because the ICC has jurisdiction over Gaza, it is responsible for overseeing crimes committed there.
In response to questions about their response to Malin’s filings, the Office of the Prosecutor for the ICC told News Media, “On the Situation in the State of Palestine the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) is actively investigating all crimes committed within the Court’s jurisdiction since 13 June 2014. The investigation is ongoing, and the Office continues to collect evidence in that context.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. (Fox News)
The statement added, “The OTP carries out its mandate independently and impartially, in accordance with its founding treaty, the Rome Statute,” it continued. “The Office does not disclose details of the investigation to ensure the integrity of its processes and proceedings and to maintain the safety and security of all concerned, including victims, witnesses, the Office’s staff and all those who cooperate with the Office and support its activities.”
Malin said that Khan sought warrants against senior Israeli and Hamas leaders for the crime against humanity of extermination, which he described as “genocide without the intent [to commit genocide.]”
That warrant was denied for Israeli leaders, but ultimately approved for Deif, though he had been previously killed in an Israeli air strike.
Earlier this month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio imposed sweeping financial sanctions against the court. In a recorded video, Rubio charged, “Our message is clear: The United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC.”