Al Jazeera is submitting a case to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. The request includes a dossier on the network’s six-month investigation into the death of their reporter along with new material.
Lina Abu Akleh, the niece of Shireen, made a public statement about the move during a press conference at The Hague. “It is clear that Israel has a history and a de facto state policy of targeting Palestinians journalists like my aunt in order to silence their reporting on Israel’s human rights violations against Palestinians,” she told reporters. “Israeli soldiers are almost never held responsible for their war crimes, which creates a culture of impunity that allows these atrocities to continue. But enough is enough. We must end impunity for Israeli war crimes. It’s past time for justice for Shireen and for every Palestinian that’s been killed by the Israeli army.”
“We expect the prosecutor to work quickly to pursue the truth and justice, and we expect the court to deliver with accountability for the individuals and institutions responsible for this crime,” she continued. “The evidence is overwhelmingly clear. It’s time for the ICC to take action. Wouldn’t you expect the same if your aunt, sister, or best friend was killed?”
Israel’s reaction to the news has not been surprising. “No one will investigate IDF soldiers and no one will preach to us about morals in warfare, certainly not Al Jazeera,” said Prime Minister Yair Lapid. You’ll recall that Israel’s government also recently declared that they will refuse to cooperate with the FBI’s current probe into Abu Akleh’s death.
Israel’s incoming national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was only recently praising the IDF solider who killed a Palestinian at point blank range, is now calling for Al Jazeera to be expelled from Israel.
With the United States things get trickier. Not because they believe that the ICC should be investigating Abu Akleh’s death, but because they’ve spent months and months prattling on about accountability and transparency. During Tuesday’s State Department briefing the AP’s Matt Lee asked Ned Price about the Al Jazeera case and the spokesperson provided all the usual caveats.
“She was a U.S. citizen,” Price reminded everyone. “She was an intrepid reporter. Her journalism was known to audiences around the world. She was known to people in this building and to our officials in the region as well.”
But….
“When it comes to the ICC, we maintain our longstanding objections to the ICC’s investigation into the Palestinian situation and the – and the position the ICC should focus on its core mission, and that core mission of serving as a court of last resort in punishing and deterring atrocity crimes.”
Last year the Biden administration dropped Trump’s sanctions and visa restrictions on ICC officials, but it also made it clear that it didn’t want them investigating Israel. “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,” said Secretary of State Tony Blinken after the body announced a Commission of Inquiry into potential war crimes carried out in occupied Palestinian territory. “The Palestinians do not qualify as a sovereign state and therefore, are not qualified to obtain membership as a state in, participate as a state in, or delegate jurisdiction to the ICC.”
This week ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said that he would try to visit Palestine in 2023.
New Letter
Speaking of Israeli war crime investigations, there’s a standalone bill (introduced by Rep. Gregory Steube) in the House aimed at eradicating the U.N. Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry into Israeli war crimes and reducing US funding to the UN over the whole thing. That currently has 119 cosponsors: 101 Republicans and 18 Democrats. The legislation has also been introduced in the Senate (introduced by Sen. Tim Scott), where six Republicans and six Democrats have cosponsored so far.
Now Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports that 49 lawmakers have sent a letter to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield calling on the United States to shut down the probe and cut back funding. The letter references U.N. human rights investigator Miloon Kothari, who was smeared for referring to pro-Israel Jewish groups during an interview with Mondoweiss.
“As you know well, the commission’s distorted investigative work has proven to be profoundly problematic. In addition to incomplete and biased reports, the commission’s staff has made numerous antisemitic comments,” reads the letter. “Chair Navi Pillay has labeled Israel an ‘apartheid state’ and advocated for a boycott of the Jewish state, while Commissioner Miloon Kothari has recently claimed that Jews control the media – a pernicious antisemitic trope. Compounding the deep flaws represented by the commission’s work and staff is the unprecedented ongoing nature of its mandate, perpetually guaranteeing that UN resources are committed to this deeply flawed investigative body. As such, there is strong bipartisan urgency in Congress to make clear that the United States has no intention of contributing funds to the commission’s continued operation.”
Of course Israel is an apartheid state and Kothari didn’t ever say Jews control the media, but I digress.
“Respect for human rights is a core American value, and an ideal to which all international actors must be held accountable,” the letter continues. “That accounting must be done in a balanced manner consistent with international norms, and the U.N. Commission of Inquiry abjectly fails to meet these standards. Taking a stand against anti-Israel bias within the UN has been a priority for both Democratic and Republican administrations alike. We thank you for your support for Israel and for pursuing a just peace to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the face of this latest iteration of the UN’s anti-Israel agenda. The coming weeks will require the administration to redouble its diplomatic efforts to ensure that funding to this discriminatory investigation ultimately ceases. We stand ready to assist you in any way in defending our democratic ally, Israel.”
The signatories are certainly right about this effort being another bipartisan affair. Multiple Republicans signed along with the usual Dems.
Odds & Ends
? The undergraduate Student Government at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio passed a resolution calling on the school to divest from Israel.
⚽ Mitchell Plitnick is at the site writing about how the World Cup is exposing the moral bankruptcy of the Abraham Accords.
The New York Times also has a piece about support for Palestine at the tournament, but you’ll note that they frame it as an Arab phenomenon with no mention of the European and South American fans who have highlighted the country.
? Netflix is facing backlash over Farha, the debut film from Jordanian director Darin Sallam. The movie tells the story of story of a young Palestinian girl who witnesses Zionist military forces kill her family during the Nakba. Sallam has said it’s based on the experience of one of her mother’s friends.
Last month Israeli Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman told the country’s treasury to revoke funding from a theater in Jaffa that was planning to screen the film. “The decision of a cultural institution budgeted by the state to screen the movie is an unacceptable move that requires it takes all the possible steps, including denying it funds, with the goal of preventing the screening of this shocking film or other similar ones in the future,” said Lieberman. “Israel is a place to present Israeli and international works, but is certainly not the place to slander IDF soldiers and the security forces who are acting day and night to defend and protect all the citizens and residents living here.”
Jonathan Ofir reviewed the film for the site and says, “the events of ‘Farha’ are not only historically accurate, but actually mild in comparison to other Zionist atrocities in 1948.”
? Mehul Srivastava and Kaye Wiggins in The Financial Times:
NSO has cut staff and reined in costs this year, as the Israeli company struggles to service more than $400mn in debt and is barred from the lucrative US intelligence market by a commerce department blacklisting.
However, co-founder Shalev Hulio believes that Netanyahu’s imminent comeback will provide much-needed political cover for the beleaguered company to begin conducting deals with nations crucial to Israeli foreign policy, according to people familiar with his thinking.
“Don’t worry,” he told guests at a Tel Aviv dinner party this summer over concerns NSO was failing. “Netanyahu is coming back.”
?? The Canadian Association of University Teachers (which represents 72,000 members) adopted a motion rejecting the controversial IHRA working definition of antisemitism and criticizing the academic censorship of Palestine.
⚖️ Palestine Legal’s Michael Ratner Justice Fellow Amal Thabateh: “The law, constitution and Supreme Court have all been used at times to uphold discriminatory and violent policies. Advocacy for Palestinian rights exposes part of the cracks in the country’s foundation – where rights like that to free speech do not apply to those who challenge the injustices of the US or its allies. This is why it’s so important to continue to raise awareness and to organize.”
? Watch “Love Under Occupation,” a short film by Mondoweiss and the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights about a fictional Palestinian-and-foreigner couple taking the next big step in their relationship, and then read on to learn how Israeli apartheid regulations impact Palestinian people, their partners, and their families.
? At Yale the campus group Yalies 4 Palestine have launched a BDS campaign demanding that the Ivy League School its contract with the British security company G4S, which provides services for Israel prisons detaining Palestinians.
Stay safe out there,
Michael
