Former ICC Chief Prosecutor: Israel Has Little to Fear from International Criminal Court

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international-criminal-courtAccording to former International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Israel has little to worry about from the ICC in the wake of Palestinian threats to take it to court for war crimes.

During a visit to Israel last week, Moreno-Ocampo was full of praise for Israel’s legal system and eager to point out that joining the ICC could backfire for the Palestinians. The ICC’s job is to investigate and prosecute only in cases in which the local legal system is not performing.

For the ICC to rule on Israel’s activities, he said, “the Palestinians have to prove that the [Israeli court’s] decision…wasn’t a fair proceeding.”

Moreno-Ocampo said ICC membership could be a double-edged sword for the Palestinians, since it would also open them up to investigation for war crimes, such as rocket fire and bombings targeting Israeli civilians.

{Matzav.com Israel News Bureau}


2 COMMENTS

  1. This is a court out of control. Israel never ratified the Rome Statute, the act creating the ICC. As such, Israel is not bound under international law, which is treaty-based. See the Vienna Convention. This court thinks it has jurisdiction of non-signatories, like Israel and the US. It has sent arrest warrants for Ariel Sharon and other Israelis, despite lack of jurisdiction. So Israel and the rest of the world has much to fear from this kangaroo court.

  2. I believe you’re confusing the ICC with other national legal systems. The only arrest warrants, or threats of them, against Israeli officials where issued at one point or another by overzealous and out-of-bounds pro-Palestinian lawyers in Belgium, Great Britain and Spain. All were later rescinded and new laws passed to prevent such abuses from happening again. To my knowledge, the ICC has never issued anything against Israel, if only for the very simple reason that you mention, i.e. it is not a party to the Treaty of Rome which gave birth to the ICC. Therefore the ICC has no jurisdiction.

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