War-crimes probe likely after ICC Palestine ruling
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on Thursday doubled down on her position that “Palestine” is a state, bringing closer an alleged war-crimes legal battle with Israel.
Rather than expressing a toned-down approach to the ongoing battle following dozens of legal briefs being filed in favor of Israel by key European countries and others, Bensouda appeared to brush off the opposing views and embraced the dozens of briefs filed in favor of the Palestinians.
Regarding objections that her war-crimes probe would harm the peace process, Bensouda implied that the process is presently nonfunctional, and in any event, such an issue would only come up later when the ICC Pretrial Chamber considers whether the case is consistent with pursuing the “interests of justice.”
How the three ICC Pretrial Chamber judges rule, now that Bensouda has filed her highly influential position, will have fateful consequences for Israel on a legal, diplomatic and public-relations level.
Responding on behalf of an intergovernmental committee on the ICC, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said: “The legal brief of the ICC Prosecutor continues to adopt her clearly anti-Israel policy based on being influenced from the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the BDS movement.”
He accused Bensouda of “ignoring… the opinions of some of the greatest international-law jurists in the world” in order to “besmirch Israel’s name.”
Furthermore, Steinitz said she was “reinventing international law and creating a Palestinian state” before it came about properly through peace negotiations.
The case would very likely not proceed if the ICC does not accept “Palestine” as a state, since most cases start only if referred by a state.
On December 20, Bensouda ruled that Palestine is a state and that there was sufficient evidence that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes, warranting her opening a full criminal investigation.
However, she also asked the ICC Pretrial Chamber to endorse her view. Since