The Israel Prime Minister has done his usual angry man act and hit out at the announcement of the International Criminal Court's Chief Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, that she would be conducting a preliminary investigationinto a complaint lodged by the Palestinian Authority.
Mr Netanyahu, who has vowed to defend Israeli soldiers against possible war crimes charges abroad, said in a statement issued Friday night that Israel “categorically rejects” the announced inquiry.
”It is a scandal that just a few days after terrorists massacred Jews in France, the general prosecutor of the International Criminal court opens an examination against the Jewish state because we are defending our citizens against Hamas . . . whose war criminals fired thousands of rockets at Israeli citizens,” he added.
In their usual dog being wagged by tail fashion, the US administration has tagged along.
The US State Department also disagreed with the ICC’s decision to launch a probe. “The place to resolve the differences between the parties is through direct negotiation, not unilateral actions by either side,” spokesman Jeff Rathke said in a statement late on Friday.
As neither are members of the ICC it is perhaps excusable that they are ignorant of its procedures or perhaps they conveniently forget that the preliminary investigation of a previous complaint by the Palestinians ruled against them.
As the ICC Press Release explains
A preliminary examination is not an investigation but a process of examining the information available in order to reach a fully informed determination on whether there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation pursuant to the criteria established by the Rome Statute. Specifically, under article 53(1) of the Rome Statute, the Prosecutor must consider issues of jurisdiction, admissibility and the interests of justice in making this determination. The Office gives due consideration to all submissions and views conveyed to the Office during the course of a preliminary examination, strictly guided by the requirements of the Rome Statute in the independent and impartial exercise of its mandate.
Of course Israel is not unfamiliar with what to do about investigations of breaches of International and Human Rights laws. It is currently blocking all access to Israel, Gaza and the Occupied Territories by a team sent by the UN Human Rights Commission. Palestinian officials are having to go to Jordan to meet them.
More below the fold.
A preliminary investigation looks at the standing of the complainant. Previously, the Chief Prosecutor decided that the status of the Palestinian Authority at the UNO was insufficient for them to refer matters to the ICC.
The Office previously conducted a preliminary examination of the situation in Palestine upon receipt of a purported article 12(3) declaration lodged by the Palestinian National Authority on 22 January 2009. The Office carefully considered all legal arguments submitted to it and, after thorough analysis and public consultations, concluded in April 2012 that Palestine's status at the United Nations (UN) as an "observer entity" was determinative, since entry into the Rome Statute system is through the UN Secretary-General (UNSG), who acts as treaty depositary. The Palestinian Authority's "observer entity", as opposed to "non-member State" status at the UN, at the time meant that it could not sign or ratify the Statute. As Palestine could not join the Rome Statute at that time, the Office concluded that it could also not lodge an article 12(3) declaration bringing itself within the ambit of the treaty either, as it had sought to do.
That position changed in November 2012 when the United Nations General Assembly changed the status to "non-member observer State". Bensouda however ruled that this could not be retrospective and rejected the complaint without further investigation. The ploy is not unusual. When some of the big players like the USA and Russia are involved, complaints fail because of technicalities. This time it is quite likely that the preliminary investigation will go on to the next stage of a formal investigation and gathering of evidence. That is in no small part due to the international outrage at Israeli government actions in Gaza last year.
Israel and the USA will of course attempt to block any and all investigations. It's a foregone conclusion that Israel will not cooperate however that does not stop it going ahead. The tactic with the UN fact finding mission led by Richard Goldstone was to not cooperate and then complain about incidents that had not been drawn to their attention. The Report's author, a distinguished South African jurist, was personally attacked to undermine its conclusions:
Goldstone himself came under sustained personal attack, with critics accusing him of bias, dishonesty and improper motives in being party to the report. Goldstone denied the accusations, saying he felt that being a Jew increased his obligation to participate in the investigation.
Wait for the accusations of bias against Mrs Bensouda which will, no doubt, include her marriage to somebody who is a Gambian-Moroccan. The investigation is likely to go on well past the Israeli elections later this year. That will no doubt not stop Bibi using it for electioneering purposes so watch out for the "world against poor little Israel" meme being rolled out. I wonder if anyone will ask him why his personal bodyguard was so in evidence in the photographs of the "Paris March" when the world leaders were in a side street, away from the crowd with what looks like a bunch from Central Casting a hundred metres or so back. I hope he was not wearing a "We Are Not Afraid" pin!
Come to that, he might be asked about how freedom of the press applies when an Orthodox Jewish Israeli newspaper photoshopped out all the female leaders from the pictures they showed. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo were disappeared - while only the hand of Danish Prime Minster Helle Thorning-Shmidt makes the picture. His own office cropped off Palestinian President Abbas from the picture on "his" tweet.