Gearing up for imminent ICC probe… ‘Israel’ drafts list of hundreds of Israeli war criminals

Occupied Palestine (QNN)- The occupation state is drawing up a secret list of military and intelligence officials who may be subject to arrest abroad over war crimes they committed against Palestinians if the International Criminal Court in the Hague opens an investigation their crimes, according to Israeli media.

The list includes between 200 and 300 Israeli officials, some of whom have not been informed, reported Haaretz. The mere disclosure of the list’s existence could be considered a recognition of committing the crimes and consequently would endanger the suspects on it, according to the Israeli newspaper.

However, it likely includes some of the Israeli top leaders, especially those involved in the 2014 aggression on Gaza, resulting in the murder of 2147 civilian Palestinians, among them would be PM Benjamin Netanyahu; War Minister Benny Gantz, who was then at the helm of the Israeli occupation forces; then-war minister and current opposition MK Moshe Ya’alon, and current IOF chief Aviv Kohavi, who was then head of Military Intelligence.

Former defense ministers Avigdor Liberman and Naftali Bennett, heads of the opposition Yisrael Beytenu and Yamina parties, respectively, may also be on the list, along with former and current heads of the Shin Bet security service and other, lower ranking officers.

A three-judge panel at the ICC is set to rule in the coming days or weeks on the possibility of launching an investigation into Israeli war crimes committed in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

The occupation state has attacked the ICC claiming it was “hostile towards Israel”.

US President Donald Trump had also imposed economic and travel sanctions against ICC employees investigating abuses by Americans and US allies, including ‘Israel’, while US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened the court against asserting jurisdiction over the occupation state, claiming the United States will “exact consequences” for any “illegitimate” investigations.

Confronting Israeli and American smear campaign against her investigation, Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), had stressed that “misinformation and smear campaigns do not change facts about the conduct of my Office’s work concerning the situation in Palestine.”

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