Last month, ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced: “I am satisfied that there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation into the situation in Palestine,” adding, “There is a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes were committed in the context of the 2014 hostilities in Gaza.”
As Israel is not a signatory to the Rome Statute that lends the ICC its power, Jerusalem claims Bensouda has no jurisdiction over the matter. The Palestinian Authority joined the Rome Statute in 2015. Most of the prominent actors in the international arena are signatories to the Rome Statute, including all Western European countries, Canada, Australia, all Latin American countries and most African countries. The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute.
If the ICC does, indeed, issue such warrants, high-ranking Israeli officials and military officers may be arrested upon traveling abroad and extradited to The Hague.
Israel Defense Forces personnel who participated in military campaigns in the Gaza Strip, including in quelling Hamas riots on the Israel-Gaza border, could also face the ICC.
The ministers further discussed the economic implications of the ICC probe, as well as the harm the move could inflict on Israel’s international image.
Legal experts said that there is no doubt that the Palestinians and their supporters will use any such investigation to relentlessly pressure international conglomerates to stop doing business with Israel.
Ramallah is also expected to pressure academic and cultural figures to refrain from visiting Israel, “so as not to appear as supportive of a state accused of alleged war crimes.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already reached out to Israel’s allies asking them to help defend the Jewish state against the potential war crimes probe.
Jerusalem maintains the ICC has no jurisdiction in Israel, the Prime Minister’s Office stressed.
The United States, Australia and Hungary have already expressed opposition to the ICC involving itself in a case about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said Budapest will stand by Israel.
“We fully understand your concerns, since the Hungarian government has always highly appreciated the principle and value of national sovereignty,” Szijjártó wrote in a letter to Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz.
“Thus, we believe that your position with regard to the lack of jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in the given case is justified.”
Szijjártó compared the situation to Hungary’s disputes with the European Union and the United Nations.
Katz thanked Szijjártó and said that he appreciates Hungary’s stance, which he said is “consistent with the values of justice and the excellent relations between the countries.”
A senior source told Israel Hayom that the Cabinet was made to understand that the ICC investigation was not a theoretical threat, but rather a serious and imminent one, which requires immediate attention.
“The very fact that an ICC investigation will be launched will make Israel synonymous with the darkest regimes in Africa, where truly horrific war crimes have been committed. It’s unthinkable,” said the source.
“The ICC will not discuss what is going on in Syria, Iran, or China, but it has no problem training its sights on us. This is a threat that requires a quick and crushing response.”
Another source noted that in the current situation, Israel would find it increasingly difficult to prevent the investigation on its own, saying that the United States would have to provide “significant assistance” on the matter.
This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.
(JNS)
{Matzav.com}
It’s amazing that these meatballs have no issue with Lebanon, Iran, Syria etc. Their only beef is with Israel! In fact they refer to it as Palestine! Where, pray do tell, are the boundaries of Palestine? Does one present a pre-issued visa when crossing the border into this so called, although non-existant country?
They deserve it. Their actions in Gaza were way over the top.
First go live in Sderot for a year and then come and make this idiotic statement.
Here’s why: “And somehow it was the most normal thing. Because in Gaza, everything was permitted. As one of the commanders of the Girit outpost that sat on the neck of Rafah, I was involved in dozens (yes, dozens) of incidents in which all the positions in the outposts fired simultaneously at the houses in Rafah, using any weapon possible. In 98 percent of the cases, the shooting began because someone imagined that they saw something, and the rest was just part of the fun. To our credit, I must say we weren’t discriminating. As we fired in all directions, we were also firing at our own troops in the neighboring outpost, at the Israelis of Rafiah Yam and at anything in-between.”
“In such a situation, there are no rules and no one holding you to account. As an engineering unit without too many resources, we were often given new, unfamiliar weapons. And the best way to test their efficacy was to aim them at the homes of Rafah. Thus, we conducted tests with light bombs that fell in the middle of the city. It’s how we tested an automatic grenade launcher that fired grenades in bursts, indirectly firing into Rafah. At whom or at what, we had no idea. Everything was allowed. That’s how we behaved in the most moral army in the world.”
Keep reading: What Really Happens in the World’s Most Moral Army by Eyal Harel
WE NEED TO DECLARE THE ICC AS A TERRORIST ORGANISATION AND ISSUE ARREST WARRANTS FOR ITS MEMBERS.
IF ANY COUNTRY ARRESTS AN ISRAELI CITIZEN, WE SHOULD RETALIATE BY ARRESTING THEIR CITIZENS IN ISRAEL.