In a 2-1 decision, judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled that Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda committed “material errors” in her “Decision Not to Investigate” war crimes complaints concerning the murderous Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara, killing 9 humanitarian aid workers in May 2010,
Palestinian leaders seek to charge Israel with the crime of “Apartheid,” and 22 other charges including seven war crimes, according to Shawan Jabarin, the director of the Palestinian human rights group Al Haq. The thick set documents were ceremoniously handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) today at headquarters in The Hague, yet yesterday morning Jabarin was given exclusive access to the report in Ramallah.
On Wednesday the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee convened a hearing on cutting off aid to the Palestinian Authority in response to joining the International Criminal Court. The hearing panel was staffed exclusively by neoconservatives—three out of four of whom have written about Palestinian children as constituting a “demographic threat” to the Jewish state. Citizens concerned about human rights in Israel/Palestine packed the hearing to represent the growing number of Americans who object to the US government’s one-sided diplomatic and military support for Israel. Subcommittee chairperson Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) was not amused.
Middle East Monitor reports the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that it will respond to Israel’s continued expansion of illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territories by referring the case to the International Criminal Court.
It’s a “tragic irony” that Israel which has withstood thousands of terrorist rockets is to be investigated by the International Criminal Court, the US State Department says, fulfilling its role as the defender of the Jewish state
A prosecutor for the International Criminal Court has opened an inquiry into possible war crimes carried out by Israel in advance of the Palestinian government’s official ascension to the court. Meanwhile, the Palestinians plan to re-file a UN Security Council resolution to end Israel’s occupation.
Within days of Palestinians announcing they would join the International Criminal Court (ICC), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his country would stop transferring customs revenue to the Palestinian Authority. The punitive move was expected to lead to a crisis for the Palestinian leadership as government services would collapse across the West Bank. But the Palestinian Authority had an unexpected back up plan. The Arab League has agreed to provide emergency funds to cover the VAT-taxes frozen by Israel. This Arab League safety net will help the Palestinians avoid the expected temporary bankruptcy and allow them to move forward with pressing for war crimes at the ICC. In fact, financial support from the Arab League was a key component, along with joining the ICC, of long-term strategy to pressure Israel into negotiations.
Reporters pressed State Dep’t’s Jen Psaki over a “double standard” — her threat to assistance to Palestine over its decision to take international legal steps even as the U.S. has never threatened aid to Israel over its neverending construction of settlements in occupied territories
In response to the Palestinian bid to join the International Criminal Court, pro-Israel members of Congress are threatening to cut off U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority. The U.S. gives the PA about $500 million annually, and U.S. law states most of it will be cut off if the PA initiates an investigation targeting Israel at the ICC. But analysts say that it is unlikely the U.S. will, in fact, cut off aid, since it would be a blow to the PA’s economic standing and could destabilize the authority’s rule.
The US said it was “deeply troubled” by the Palestinian move to join the ICC, and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called it a threat to the “most moral army in the world,” but Palestinian activists have embraced the initiative as a new chapter in Palestinian resistance to occupation