Israel vows to fight ICC’s 'perversion of justice' of war crimes charge
“I'm going to fight for the truth: fight against this perversion of justice until it is null and void," Netanyahu says.
By LAHAV HARKOVICC CHIEF PROSECUTOR Fatou Bensouda in The Hague earlier this year(photo credit: EVA PLEVIER/REUTERS)
Israel will fight against the International Criminal Court’s decision to investigate Israel for alleged war crimes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a day after the probe was announced.“I think this is an outrageous decision,” Netanyahu said on Fox News. “It goes against the one democracy in the Middle East. They don’t put on [trial] Syria... or Iran. This is pure antisemitism… This is an affront for all democracies.”Netanyahu lamented that the ICC, established to “prevent the horrors of the Holocaust,” now says “if we build a house in Jerusalem, that’s a war crime. I’m going to fight for the truth, fight against this perversion of justice until it is null and void.”A source close to Netanyahu explained on Thursday that the “diplomatic blitz” took place weeks ago, after the court’s pre-trial chamber decision that Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda can investigate Israel. The prime minister has not called any of his counterparts in other countries since the day that passed, though he may bring up the topic in upcoming conversations with other leaders.Netanyahu asked US President Joe Biden during their phone conversation last month to continue US sanctions on Bensouda and other senior ICC officials that were instituted last year, a source said.A Foreign Ministry source explained that at this point, the investigation seems to be a done deal, and it is the job of the legal teams to decide how to handle it moving forward.Israeli diplomats were in touch with their US counterparts on Wednesday, and Israel viewed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s statement against the ICC decision positively.“The United States firmly opposes and is deeply disappointed by this decision,” Blinken said. “The ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter. Israel is not a party to the ICC and has not consented to the court’s jurisdiction, and we have serious concerns about the ICC’s attempts to exercise its jurisdiction over Israeli personnel.”Blinken also stressed that the Palestinians don’t qualify as a sovereign state, and therefore cannot participate in the ICC.Defense Minister Benny Gantz called a meeting on Thursday with Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit, chief military attorney Lt.-Gen. Sharon Afek, Deputy Attorney-General for international law Roi Scheindorf and others to discuss the ICC decision. Gantz called for a forum of ministers to be established to coordinate efforts on the matter.
