Israeli Cabinet: ICC is in line with antisemitic organizations in its ruling

In a public statement, the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday rejected the ruling of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that it has jurisdiction to open a criminal investigation into ‘Israel’ for war crimes in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

The cabinet pointed out that ‘Israel’ is not a member of the court and Palestine, which joined the Rome Statute establishing the court, does not meet the international standard for statehood, and, as such, said the ICC does not have the jurisdiction to investigate ‘Israel’.

The Cabinet also said that the ICC decision “exposes the court as a political body aligned with international organizations that are motivated by antisemitism.”

“The international court was established to prevent horrors such as those that were perpetrated by the Nazis against the Jewish people. Instead, it is persecuting the state of the Jewish people. Even as it allows the investigation of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East that is committed to the rule of law, the court shuts its eyes to the awful war crimes being perpetrated time and again by dark dictatorships such as Iran and Syria,” the statement read.

“The claim that Jews living in their homeland and their capital of Jerusalem constitutes a war crime is scandalous. Also, the claim that the IDF – there is no more ethical army – is carrying out war crimes even as it protects us from terrorists that launch rockets at our cities – is no less scandalous.”

Israeli officials also condemned the ruling of the ICC, calling the decision a “sham” and “unauthorized”.

“Let me be clear, the ICC has no right to investigate, no right to indict, no right to try and no right to convict any Israeli whatsoever,” said Yamina Party leader Bennett. “The International Criminal Court is a sham.”

“It is yet another example of how the Palestinian Authority is working to hijack international institutions to attack Israel,” Sa’ar, the former cabinet secretary, said.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz slammed the ICC ruling, calling it “grave”, “unauthorized” and a “tool in the hands of the enemies of the State of Israel, and those who seek to harm it through the political exploitation of international bodies.”

On Friday, 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 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as well as Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.

However, she asked the court to determine whether she has territorial jurisdiction before proceeding with the case.

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.

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