Israel Matzav

ICC launches 'war crimes' probe against Israel

Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.

The fact that this was probably inevitable does not make it any less of a farce. The International Criminal Court has opened an 'investigation' into Israel's actions this past summer in Gaza.

"A preliminary examination is not an investigation but a process of examining the information available in order to reach a fully informed determination on whether there is a reasonable basis to proceed with a (full) investigation," Bensouda was quoted as having said.

Depending on her findings, Bensouda will decide at a later stage whether to launch or quash the investigation, based on the initial probe, the report added.

Israel condemned the decision as "scandalous", as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in a statement that since “Palestine” is not a state, the ICC had no jurisdiction over it, according to the court's own rules.

The probe is "absurd" since "the Palestinian Authority cooperates with Hamas, a terror group that commits war crimes, in contrast to Israel that fights terror while maintaining international law, and has an independent justice system," Netanyahu pointed out.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman added that the sole purpose of the preliminary examination was to "try to harm Israel's right to defend itself from terror."

In a statement he said the decision was "solely motivated by political anti-Israel considerations," adding that he would recommend against cooperating with the probe.

The United States has slammed the probe as 'harmful to peace.'

"It is a tragic irony that Israel, which has withstood thousands of terrorist rockets fired at its civilians and its neighborhoods, is now being scrutinized by the ICC," US State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said in a statement.

In 2009, the ICC opened an investigation into Israel's actions in Operation Cast Lead. That probe was closed in 2012 because 'Palestine' was not a state. Since then, with Western complicity, the 'Palestinians' status at the United Nations has been upgraded from 'observer' to 'non-member state.' That allowed 'Palestine' to join the ICC.

It's long past time for the West to make a choice: Are you with the Arab-Islamist terrorists or are you against them? So far, the West has either been incapable of choosing or has chosen to side with the terrorists - perhaps out of fear. Israel is just the canary in the coal mine. The inability to choose does not bode well for Western civilization.

This is perhaps the oddest reaction:

Rights group Amnesty International welcomed the ICC's announcement saying it "could pave the way for thousands of victims of crimes under international law to gain access to justice."

But the initial probe could lead to an investigation into crimes "committed by all sides", Amnesty stressed in a statement, with many noting that every missile fired on Israel by the PA's unity partner Hamas, and indeed by PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah, constitutes a war crime.

'Many.' But don't spend too much time looking for Amnesty to call every rocket a 'war crime.' If they did, they would have to admit that Israel has a right of self-defense. If anything, the ICC is investigating the wrong side.

Labels: Amnesty International, Avigdor Lieberman, Binyamin Netanyahu, International Criminal Court, Palestine, war crimes

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:23 PM