THE chief prosecutor of The Hague-based International Criminal Court recently said that they want to open a full investigation into alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories. The Palestinians authority welcomed the ICC move terming it a “long overdue step”. ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that before opening a full probe, she would ask the ICC to rule on the territory over which it has jurisdiction. Israel, however, rejected the investigation blaming the ICC as a political tool to delegitimize the State of Israel. White House national security adviser John Bolton last year had threatened ICC judges to arrest if they move against Israel or the United States. So, the issue is critical. Israel and the United States have both refused to sign up to the court, which was set up in 2002 to be the only global tribunal trying the World’s worst crimes, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
ICC launched a preliminary probe in January 2015 into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel in the Palestinian territories in the wake of the 2014 Gaza war. The ICC’s preliminary investigation has looked at the Gaza war which left 2,251 dead on the Palestinian side, the majority civilians, and 74 on the Israeli side, most of them soldiers. It has also looked at violence near the Israel-Gaza border in 2018. Earlier this month, the ICC prosecutor refused to press charges over a deadly 2010 Israeli raid on a flotilla bringing aid to Gaza and urged that probe to be shut.
The ICC’s move to bring war crime charge against Israel is a bold step despite it’s a close ally of US. The leaders of Muslim countries both from East and West should stand with the ICC to try the Zionist State for massacring innocent Palestinian Muslims.
ICC launched a preliminary probe in January 2015 into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel in the Palestinian territories in the wake of the 2014 Gaza war. The ICC’s preliminary investigation has looked at the Gaza war which left 2,251 dead on the Palestinian side, the majority civilians, and 74 on the Israeli side, most of them soldiers. It has also looked at violence near the Israel-Gaza border in 2018. Earlier this month, the ICC prosecutor refused to press charges over a deadly 2010 Israeli raid on a flotilla bringing aid to Gaza and urged that probe to be shut.
The ICC’s move to bring war crime charge against Israel is a bold step despite it’s a close ally of US. The leaders of Muslim countries both from East and West should stand with the ICC to try the Zionist State for massacring innocent Palestinian Muslims.
