International Criminal Court Opens Probe Against Israel
Palestinian terror groups Hamas, PLO praise the ICC for targeting Israel.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened a probe against Israel over alleged war crimes, court’s chief prosecutor announced on Friday.
ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda failed to specify the nature of the allegations against Israel, claiming that she was “satisfied” that “war crimes have been or are being committed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.” Palestinian terrorist groups, Hamas and PLO, praised the ICC for targeting Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the ICC probe, calling it a “political tool” to harm the country. “This is a dark day for truth and justice. It is a baseless and outrageous decision,” Netanyahu said. The ICC “has no authority to adjudicate the matter. It has jurisdiction only in lawsuits presented by sovereign states, but there has never been a Palestinian state. We will not accept or acquiesce to this injustice. We will continue to fight it with all the tools at our disposal,” he added.
The chief prosecutor’s probe “has turned the ICC into a political weapon waging political war against the Jewish state,” Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Israel, like other states, did not join the Rome Statute due to concerns that the court would be exploited as a political tool rather than fulfilling its original purpose. Today, the Office of the Prosecutor has proven that these concerns were justified.”
Israel, just like the United States, does not recognize the jurisdiction of the Hague-based tribunal and has not signed the so-called Rome Statute legitimizing authority of the court. The Palestinian Authority endorsed the statue in 2015, launching a campaign to get it to indict Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
“This is a dark day for truth and justice.
The ICC prosecutor has decided not to dismiss outright the Palestinian claim against the State of Israel. It is a baseless and outrageous decision. pic.twitter.com/SM1ve1ombw— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) December 20, 2019
The announcement comes weeks after the ICC dropped a probe against Israel over the 2010 Gaza flotilla incident after it found “no reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation.” Israel’s navy was accused of using excessive force against a band of armed Islamists on board the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara attempting to violate Israeli waters on May 31, 2010.
This is not the first time the ICC prosecutor Bensouda has exceed her jurisdiction. Earlier this year, she tried to open an investigation against U.S. troops in Afghanistan over alleged ‘war crimes.’ In August, Washington revoked her visa over the proposed inquiry. “The United States will take the necessary steps to protect its sovereignty and to protect our people from unjust investigation and prosecution by the international criminal court,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson said at that time. Similar sanctions will kick in if the ICC targeted U.S. allies, including Israel, the State Department declared.
Israeli broadcaster i24News reported the ICC’s decision:
The chief International Criminal Court prosecutor announced Friday a probe into suspected war crimes on Palestinian territories.
“I am satisfied that there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation into the situation in Palestine,” prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said without specifying who was committing the alleged crimes as the Court wrapped up its preliminary assessment of the situation.
She added that before opening the probe she would ask the Hague-based tribunal to rule on the territory over which it has jurisdiction, as Israel is not signatory to the Rome Statue — the founding charter of the court.
This point was echoed by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israel’s Attorney General in a legal opinion issued on Friday, which stressed that the Court had no jurisdiction in regards to the Jewish state.
Palestinian entities, in their turn, cannot initiate any proceedings in the ICC, the opinion goes on to point out, as that can only be done by sovereign states — and they do not live up to the claim of statehood and sovereignty.
Israel received backing from the Trump administration on the issue. “We firmly oppose this and any other action that seeks to target Israel unfairly,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday. “We do not believe the Palestinians qualify as a sovereign state, and they therefore are not qualified to obtain full membership, or participate as a state in international organizations, entities, or conferences, including the ICC.”
Former U.S. national security adviser, John Bolton, called ICC’s move “lawless and unaccountable.” He tweeted: “We must reject any ICC effort to assert jurisdiction over states like Israel and the United States or their citizens. There can be no compromise and no surrender on this point.”
Today, the #ICC prosecutor raised serious questions about the ICC’s jurisdiction to investigate #Israel. Israel is not a state party to the ICC. We firmly oppose this unjustified inquiry that unfairly targets Israel. The path to lasting peace is through direct negotiations.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) December 21, 2019
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) condemned the ICC probe, tweeting: “Hamas launches missiles at Israel. Israel responds. The PA asks the International Criminal Court to charge Israel w/war crimes. Now ICC opens an inquiry: Arsonist blames victim for getting him wet while dousing the flames–and the fireman agrees. Madness!”
“This announcement by the ICC is outrageous both because it represents poor procedure and precedent regarding jurisdiction, and for its potential abuse by those who seek to delegitimize and demonize Israel,” Anti-Defamation League’s chief executive, Jonathan Greenblatt, tweeted.
Not surprisingly, Palestinian terrorist groups welcomed the ICC announcement. Islamic terrorist organization Hamas hailed the ICC decision. “The Hamas movement welcomes the decision to open an investigation into the war crimes committed by the occupation against the Palestinian people,” Gaza-based Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said. The terrorist group Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) also supported the move. PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat called it “a positive, encouraging step.”
The ‘war crimes’ probe will be used as a tool to indict Israeli government officials and members of the Israel Defense Forces, Israel’s Channel 12 News reported. Since the Hague-based tribunal is legally restrained from bringing any charges against Israel as a state, it is most likely go after Israeli civilian and military officials engaged in combating terrorism, the Israeli TV network explained. The ICC investigation intends to deter Israel from responding to acts of war and terror committed by the Palestinian terrorist groups.
Prime Minister Netanyahu: ‘This is a dark day for truth and justice.’
[Cover image via YouTube]
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Comments
Lawless Stalinists masquerading as justices.
it’s really hard to negotiate a lasting peace with people who want to eliminate your country and its people from the face of the earth…
unless you dig your own grave and stand in it for them.
She is from one of those sh!t hole countries Rrump was talking about in Africa, with an average IQ of 66, named Gambia. We should definitely kill any aid going to Gambia, also probably the rest of Africa. Why waste money on those places when it never does any long term good?
Rrump was meant to be Trump
I saw that but, I didn’t want to call you on it since I’ve read your previous posts… Fat fingers?
Yep, fat fingers and failure to proofread.
Social justice. You have now entered the Twilight Fringe.
the icc has no jurisdiction–end of discussion
ICC because they said they are? Well, I, as Supreme Pan-Galactic Overlord (because I said so), declare them irrelevant poseurs.
Come to think of it, as an aware, carbon-based life form, let alone my august and ample self, I have the authority to declare them irrelevant poseurs, but the other one sounds better, doesn’t it?
(BTW, my pronouns are “just zis guy”, you know?)
Anyone have a list of who else they have gone after or are going after at the moment?
No prizes for guessing this one. Just Israel.
Quite a lot, actually.
From Wikipedia:
So far, the International Criminal Court opened investigations in 12 situations: Burundi; two in the Central African Republic; Côte d’Ivoire; Darfur, Sudan; the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Georgia; Kenya; Libya; Mali; Uganda; and Bangladesh/Myanmar. Additionally, the Office of the Prosecutor is conducting preliminary examinations in ten situations in Afghanistan; Bangladesh/Myanmar; Colombia; Guinea; Iraq / the United Kingdom; Nigeria; Palestine; the Philippines; Ukraine; and Venezuela on events since April 2017.
The Court’s Pre-Trial Chambers publicly indicted 44 people. The ICC has issued arrest warrants for 36 individuals and summonses to eight others. Six persons are in detention. Proceedings against 22 are ongoing: 15 are at large as fugitives, one is under arrest but not in the Court’s custody, two are in the pre-trial phase, and four are at trial. Proceedings against 22 have been completed: two are serving sentences, four have finished their sentences, two have been acquitted, six have had the charges against them dismissed, two have had the charges against them withdrawn, one has had his case declared inadmissible, and four have died before trial.
So, no, they’re not singling out Israel. Israel’s not even the only case where they’ve gone way past their jurisdiction, which they seem to consider merely advisory.
22 cases resolved. Subtract the 4 who died, and 18 actually went through the process. Of the 18, only 6 (one third) were convicted. A prosecuting authority that only gets it right one third of the time is more of a danger to society than the criminals they are charged with prosecuting.
ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda failed to specify the nature of the allegations against Israel, claiming that she was “satisfied” that “war crimes have been or are being committed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.”
Does this sound a lot like the charges against Trump? The Dems can’t list a specific crime but they KNOW one has been committed!
Sentence first, verdict later.
The commie way, and the ICC is a communist organization.
Sounds EXACTLY like Maxine Waters.
I worked both near and sometimes literally in the shadow of the United Nations building for many years. I have won and lost contracts with the United Nations. Nothing has changed my opinion over time that the United Nations is not fit for purpose. Yesterday morning, Saturday, I made reference to the United Nations on a similar topic in a post at Minds.com that also applies to the OP regarding the ICC and how a strong POTUS might use the useless United Nations or the ICC to serve a limited purpose. I know it is doubtful/wishful possibly ranting, but it is an idea. Below is the post and the abbreviated book excerpt. There is more of the relevant book excerpt if any are interested.
In a nutshell, according to the UN and ICC terrorists should never be transferred to such a horrible place as Israel but there is an inferred international Green Light for Extraordinary Rendition to many other countries that regularly condemn Israel. I say go for it.
—-
#books #terrorism #guantanamo #extraordinaryrendition #humanrights
There is was/is a simple diplomatic solution for the perceived Public Relations image problem of transferring terrorists to countries that terrorist sympathizers allege might treat terrorists as terrorists, and possibly even torture them.
The USA should simply announce that the USA will not transfer any terrorist to a country that has been condemned, banned and sanctioned by the United Nations. If the United Nations does not feel the need to condemn and sanction countries such as China, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, etc., there should be no reason for the USA to refrain from shipping terrorists to those countries. The terrorist sympathizing human rights groups can stuff it if they do not agree with the United Nations.
Terrorist members of ISIS and Al Queda, etc. captured and held as combatants are at war with the USA and IMO should be held until the war is over and a peace accord has been reached or until the MFing Islamist Terrorist is too old, frail and decrepit to ever threaten or cause harm to another living being again.
This book, Power Wars is remarkably fair and forth coming on Obama’s policies and very hard on the Bush administration. I do not know where Savage leans but so far the information seems very good and fair.
-Mr EntryReqrd
Excerpt:
Power Wars: The Relentless Rise of Presidential Authority and Secrecy
by Charlie Savage – Nov. 2015
Part II: War in the Twenty-First Century
4. Look Forward, Not Back (Captives 2009)
[Wilson’s final major recommendation was to keep transferring detainees to countries that might be hostile toward them so long as the receiving nation provides credible diplomatic assurances that it will not abuse them. These included prisoners handed over in covert-intelligence transfers, the CIA’s practice of secretly transferring terrorism suspects to the custody of other governments’ security services. This practice, sometimes called extraordinary rendition, had caused deep controversy during the Bush years because some of the detainees sent to places like Syria ended up getting tortured despite assurances that they would not be. Skeptics suggested that in some cases the whole process was a “wink-wink, nudge-nudge” exercise in outsourcing torture. Law enforcement transfers (deportations and extraditions) and military transfers (including repatriations of Guantánamo detainees) to countries with troubled human rights records could raise similar dilemmas.
Wilson’s report detailed at length the arguments for ending the practice of relying on assurances, citing writings of human rights groups. The report made clear that the United States should not use renditions to outsource torture and included multiple pages of ways to improve assurances and monitoring of the humane treatment of transferred detainees. But in the end, the report rejected the idea of creating a blacklist of countries to which no detainee could be transferred, saying the executive branch should retain the power to evaluate whether assurances to treat people humanely were credible on a case-by-case basis. And it recommended keeping the same standard officially used by Bush (and Clinton before him) for deciding whether those assurances were credible: rendition was prohibited only when it was “more likely than not”—a greater than 50 percent chance—that the prisoner would be tortured.]
https://www.minds.com/newsfeed/1055023469485260800?referrer=entryreqrd
Best thing we could do with the ICC is to bomb it. Hopefully when all the communist employee’s are in their office.
Brussels is not far from The Hague, I vote for a twofer.
Sounds like an impeachment with Pelosi.
BTW, there is now an allegation that Pelosi’s son was being paid by the Russians.
http://redstatewatcher.com/article.asp?id=156976
That doesn’t seem credible. Did this hotshot “detective” bother checking how many hundred other companies are registered at that address?
Milhouse, while your point is a good one, in the court of public opinion, Paul Pelosi Jr. does not deserve the benefit of doubt nor the efforts or those of us on the right to minimize or negate his culpability. Let the chips fall where they may. Get out of the way of the lynch mob. There is a war going on.
—
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged a company cofounded by Paul Pelosi Jr. with fraud on Wednesday after learning that two convicted criminals were running the business.
Paul Pelosi Jr., the son of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), was the president and chief operating officer of Natural Blue Resources Inc., an investment company he cofounded that focuses on “environmentally-friendly” ventures.
The SEC charged four individuals with fraud, including former New Mexico Gov. Toney Anaya, and suspended trading in the company’s stock. Pelosi owned over 10 million shares in the company in 2009.
–Company co-founded by Nancy Pelosi’s son charged with securities fraud – Washington Times
–https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/17/company-co-founded-nancy-pelosis-son-charged-secur/
-RETRIEVED-Mon Dec 23 2019 09:55:01 GMT+0100 (Central European Standard Time)
I note that I haven’t seen any domestic U.S. press critiquing the utterly contemptible rhetoric employed by Robert O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders and other prominent Dhimmi-crats, in flippantly slandering Netanyahu as an alleged “racist.” Despicably feeding the Dhimmis’ and jihadists’ long-standing propaganda narrative to paint Israel as an illegitimate “apartheid” and “colonial” state.
This is an outrageous and vile slander, both because of its manifest falsity, as well as the fact that the Dhimmis now feel totally comfortable embracing the wholesale vilification of Israeli Jews. In addition, it is Mamoud Abbas who is appropriately labeled a racist, he who has repeatedly denigrated Jews for allegedly desecrating Jerusalem with their “filthy feet.”
Get the Un out of the US, and starve it straight.
It seems to me that many of these self-appointed “international” bodies, filled with unelected bureaucrats, are going out of their way to invalidate their very existence and provide justification for their own ends. As soon as the UN added some of the worlds biggest human rights violators to it’s Human Rights Council, they completely destroyed their own credibility. The ICC seems to want to follow that same path.
There’s a job for the Mossad in this case.