Former leaders call newly-appointed ICC prosecutor not to probe ‘Israel’ for war crimes

A group of former heads of state and ministers sent a letter on Friday to newly-appointed International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan, calling him not to launch a probe against ‘Israel’ for war crimes in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
The letter was initiated by the Friends of Israel Initiative.
Letter to Chief Prosecutor-Elect, Mr. Karim Khan | Friends of Israel Initiative https://t.co/CHTAQVM7KU
— Friends of Israel (@Friendsisrael) February 22, 2021
Signatories include former Canadian PM Stephen Harper; former Australian PM Jose Maria Aznar; former Uruguay President Luis Alberto Lacalle; and former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.
The leaders explained that they decided to appeal to Khan out of a sense of concern regarding the “unprecedented campaign of delegitimization against Israel waged by the enemies of the Jewish State and supported by numerous international institutions.”
“We are writing to urge you to re-evaluate the decision taken by your predecessor, Ms. Fatou Bensouda, to investigate Israel over ‘alleged crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, since 13 June 2014.’ As you are aware, the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber recently adjudged that the court has jurisdiction over these allegations,” the letter said.
In the letter, they explained at length that as ‘Israel’ is not a member of the ICC, the court has neither reason nor justification to probe Israelis.
“This view is strongly supported by the government of the United States of America, as well as the governments of Rome Statute state-parties Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Uganda and leading international law scholars,” it stated.
The letter pointed out that the ICC has a mandate to investigate the “gravest crimes” as a court of last resort when national jurisdictions can’t or won’t do so.
It said such a situation does not apply to ‘Israel’, which it noted has a “long-established and internationally respected legal system with a track record of investigating such crimes.”
The leaders concluded the letters by saying they agree “with the words of the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber’s presiding judge, Peter Kovacs, who wrote: “I find neither the Majority’s approach nor its reasoning appropriate in answering the question before this Chamber, and in my view, they have no legal basis in the Rome Statute, and even less so, in public international law.””
On Feb. 5, the International Criminal Court said that its jurisdiction extends to territories occupied by ‘Israel’ in the 1967 war, clearing the way for its chief prosecutor to open a war crimes probe into Israeli war crimes.
“The Court’s territorial jurisdiction in the Situation in Palestine … extends to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” the judges said.
The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said in 2019 that there was a reasonable basis to open a war crimes probe into Israeli war crimes against native Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as well as Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.
But she asked the court to determine whether she has territorial jurisdiction before proceeding with the case.
The court based its opinion on United Nations General Assembly Resolution 67/19, which “[reaffirmed] the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to independence in their State of Palestine on the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.”
Palestine has asked the court to look into Israeli war crimes during its 2014 war against the Gaza Strip, when the Israelis killed 2147 Palestinians including women and children, and wounded 10870 others, as well as Israel’s construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem. Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.
Khan is due to take over from current ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in approximately two months.