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<font size="1"><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-lashes-out-icc-okays-war-crimes-probe">https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-lashes-out-icc-okays-war-crimes-probe</a>
</font><h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Israel lashes out as ICC okays war crimes probe</h1>
<p class="gmail-node__submitted">
<span class="gmail-field gmail-field-author"><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/maureen-clare-murphy">Maureen Clare Murphy</a></span> <span class="gmail-field gmail-field-blog"></span>
<span class="gmail-field gmail-field-publication-date"><span class="gmail-date-display-single">9 February 2021</span></span> </p>
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<img src="https://electronicintifada.net/sites/default/files/styles/original_800w/public/2021-02/main_image46269_a0t53tv1aq.jpg?itok=l-BHosPp×tamp=1612833517" alt="" title="" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="425" height="283"><p>Palestinian
human rights groups welcomed the ICC’s determination of territorial
jurisdiction as a “critically important step” towards ending Israeli
impunity. </p><small>
<span>ActiveStills</span></small><p>The
International Criminal Court has territorial jurisdiction to investigate
suspected war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a panel of judges
<a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=pr1566">affirmed</a> last week.</p>
<p>The ruling, which took months to hand down after being requested by the court’s chief prosecutor, was <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/02/israel-opt-historic-icc-ruling-brings-hope-for-victims-of-crimes-under-international-law/">welcomed</a> by <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/02/06/israel/palestine-icc-judges-open-door-formal-probe">human rights groups</a> who <a href="https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/17878.html">called</a> for expeditious proceedings.</p>
<p>Israeli government figures condemned the ICC judges’ decision, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu <a href="https://twitter.com/Ostrov_A/status/1357827816625229828">calling</a> it “pure anti-Semitism.”</p>
<p><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/fatou-bensouda">Fatou Bensouda</a>, the ICC chief prosecutor, concluded a five-year preliminary examination of the situation in Palestine at the end of 2019, <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/will-icc-pierce-israels-bubble-impunity/29206">stating</a> that criteria for war crimes investigations in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip had been met.</p>
<p>Bensouda gave three examples of crimes meeting the threshold
requirement of court jurisdiction in relation to the situation in
Palestine.</p>
<p>She stated that there is a basis to believe that both the Israeli
military and members of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups
committed war crimes during hostilities in Gaza during 2014.</p>
<p>The second example given by Bensouda is the transfer of Israel’s civilian population into West Bank settlements.</p>
<p>The chief prosecutor also pointed to the Israeli military’s use of force against Palestinians during <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/great-march-return">Great March of Return</a> protests in Gaza beginning in March 2018.</p>
<p>Bensouda, who will be retiring in June, had asked a pre-trial chamber
– a panel of judges – for guidance on whether the court has
jurisdiction in those territories.</p>
<p>Her office <a href="https://twitter.com/IntlCrimCourt/status/1357805348866973696">stated</a> on Friday that it “welcomes this judicial clarity,” <a href="https://twitter.com/IntlCrimCourt/status/1357807030535413763">adding</a> that it is “carefully analyzing the decision.”</p>
<h2>“Immediate action”</h2>
<p>A coalition of Palestinian human rights groups <a href="https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/17878.html">praised</a> the “landmark” ruling as “a critically important step towards ensuring the rule of law” and “towards ending impunity.”</p>
<p>The groups called for “immediate action” by the prosecutor “to ensure justice and accountability for Palestinian victims.”</p>
<p>Those four organizations – Al-Haq, Al Mezan, Al Dameer and the
Palestinian Center for Human Rights – have submitted “six substantial
communications and thousands of eyewitness files” to the prosecutor’s
office.</p>
<p>The rights groups are “routinely faced with hostile measures of
collective punishment from Israel,” including “a protracted campaign of
smears and death threats.”</p>
<p>Israeli officials lashed out after the ruling on territorial
jurisdiction was announced, relying on well-worn and baseless
accusations of anti-Semitism while ignoring the substance of the court
decision.
</p>
In a video address on Friday, Netanyahu <a href="https://twitter.com/Ostrov_A/status/1357827816625229828">stated</a> that “we will fight this perversion of justice with all our might.”
<p><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/naftali-bennett">Naftali Bennett</a>, an Israeli lawmaker and head of Yamina, a right-wing party, <a href="https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/eight-things-to-know-about-the-icc-war-crimes-suits-against-israel-658164">said</a>
on Sunday: “If the International Criminal Court is making a list of
so-called Israeli [war crimes] suspects, I ask that my name be put at
the top of that list.”</p>
<p>Bennett has <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/naftali-bennett-and-qana-massacre">previously bragged</a> that he has “killed lots of Arabs.”</p>
<p><a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/bezalel-smotrich">Bezalel Smotrich</a>, a lawmaker in Israel’s parliament, called on Netanyahu to forcibly depopulate <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/khan-al-ahmar">Khan al-Ahmar</a>, a Palestinian village in the West Bank, in response to the ICC.</p>
<p>“What matters is not what the Gentiles will say but what the Jews will do,” he <a href="https://twitter.com/bezalelsm/status/1358111036356911106">stated</a> – echoing a notorious phrase attributed to Israel’s founding prime minister David Ben-Gurion.</p>
<p>ICC scrutiny has likely prevented Israel from destroying Khan al-Ahmar previously.</p>
<p>In 2018, Bensouda <a href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=181017-otp-stat-palestine">expressed concern</a>
over the “planned eviction” of Khan al-Ahmar, adding that extensive
destruction of property and population transfers in occupied territory
are crimes.</p>
<p>Israeli leaders have attacked Bensouda, who was subjected to <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/trump-goes-nuclear-against-icc">economic sanctions</a> last year under an executive order made by then US President Donald Trump that is <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-icct/biden-administration-to-review-sanctions-on-international-criminal-court-officials-idUSKBN29V2NV">currently under review</a> by the Biden administration.</p>
<p>Danny Danon, Israel’s former UN envoy, <a href="https://twitter.com/dannydanon/status/1358128282663813128">said</a> on Friday that “if anyone should be on the stand,” it should be Bensouda.
</p>
<h2>Israel rallies its allies</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, Israel is again seeking to <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/us-and-israel-team-thwart-war-crimes-probes/29906">enlist its allies</a> in its fight against international justice.</p>
<p>On Sunday, the Israeli foreign ministry <a href="https://www.axios.com/israel-icc-political-pressure-prosecutor-18b8af1d-96e8-424d-a6e8-aea601852d88.html">instructed</a> its ambassadors to lobby the governments in which they are posted to issue statements opposing the judges’ ruling.</p>
<p>So far, only the <a href="https://www.state.gov/opposing-international-criminal-court-attempts-to-affirm-territorial-jurisdiction-over-the-palestinian-situation/">US</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/MarcGarneau/status/1358431444956295171">Canada</a> and <a href="https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/marise-payne/media-release/icc-pre-trial-chamber-decision-jurisdiction-relation-situation-palestine">Australia</a> – all settler-colonial states like Israel – have protested the decision.</p>
<p>As of Monday evening, the European Union had issued no statement about the ICC decision via its social media channels.</p>
<p>But in response to a query from The Electronic Intifada, an EU
foreign affairs spokesperson wrote that the bloc “has taken careful
note” of the ruling and that it is “a strong supporter of the ICC and of
its independence.”</p>
<p>“Both the ICC and its prosecutor are independent and impartial
judicial institutions with no political objectives to pursue,” the
statement added, contradicting claims of bias made by Netanyahu and
other Israeli leaders.
</p>
The lack of criticism of the decision by the reliably pro-Israel EU will likely set off alarm bells among Israeli leaders.
<p>Notably, however, some EU member states – <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/us-and-israel-team-thwart-war-crimes-probes/29906">including</a>
Hungary, Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic – had intervened at
the court on Israel’s behalf, urging the judges to rule against
territorial jurisdiction.</p>
<p>Israeli officials claim that some ICC member states “have agreed to
give advance warning to Israel of any intent to arrest” its citizens
upon arrival to their countries, the Tel Aviv daily <em>Haaretz</em> <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/amp/israel-news/.premium-israel-to-brief-defense-officials-fearing-they-may-be-arrested-after-icc-ruling-1.9519039">reported</a> on Sunday.</p>
<p>Providing tip-offs that could allow suspects to escape investigation
or arrest would likely violate the obligations that member states have
under the ICC’s founding Rome Statute to cooperate with the court’s
work.</p>
<p><em>Haaretz</em> added that Israel has a list of hundreds of
officials who might be investigated and prosecuted by the court, which
tries individuals, not states.</p>
<p>Any war crimes trials, however, are likely a long way off, but an investigation may begin imminently.</p>
<p>The ICC moved into an investigation phase as soon as the chief
prosecutor closed the preliminary examination in 2019, Susan Power, a
legal researcher at Al-Haq, told Al Jazeera English on Friday.
</p>
But in their ruling on territorial jurisdiction, the ICC judges warned
that there might be “a protracted process,” suggesting that there could
be further delays, as Power explained.
<p>“We would say we can no longer wait any further,” Power said. “We
must see an immediate investigation,” noting that the “files are already
there.”</p><br>
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