UN International Criminal Court Opens Investigation into Allegations of War Crimes by Israel; Senator Graham Threatens to Cut Aid to Palestinians Over ICC Move

U.S. senator threatens aid cut to Palestinians over ICC move

January 19, 2015

Reuters - The Palestinians could lose annual U.S. aid if they file a lawsuit against Israel at the International Criminal Court which they joined this month over American and Israeli protests, a senior U.S. Republican senator said on Monday.

Lindsey Graham, part of a seven-member delegation of senators visiting Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, said existing U.S. legislation "would cut off aid to the Palestinians if they filed a complaint" against Israel.

At a news conference in Jerusalem, Graham called the Palestinian step "a bastardising of the role of the ICC. I find it incredibly offensive."

"We will push back strongly to register our displeasure. It is already part of our law that would require us to stop funding if they actually bring a case," said Graham, of South Carolina.

U.S. President Barack Obama's Democratic administration has said it does not believe Palestine is a sovereign state and therefore does not qualify to be part of the ICC, but has not explicitly threatened to withhold aid.

Any cut in U.S. funds could make it hard for the Palestinian self-rule authority in the West Bank and Gaza to survive. The U.S. supplies more than $400 million annually to the Palestinian Authority. Israel has frozen a monthly transfer of some $120 million in tax revenues it collects for the Palestinians.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has confirmed the Palestinians will formally become a member of the ICC on April 1, after applying earlier this month.

With jurisdiction dating back to June 13, 2014, the court's prosecutor could investigate the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip in July and August 2014, during which more than 2,100 Palestinians, 67 Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel were killed.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas applied to the court after losing a vote at the U.N. Security Council seeking a deadline for an Israeli withdrawal from land it captured in a 1967 war and where Palestinians seek to establish a state.

Israel and the United States deplore Palestinian moves at the U.N. as unilateral steps that undermine diplomacy, which has made little progress in years and collapsed most recently in April.

Graham urged the Palestinians to re-evaluate ICC membership, saying he supported their aspirations for statehood but opposed joining the court as a "provocative step" against Israel.

Senator John McCain, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, charged that a U.S.-led campaign against Islamist militants in Syria and Iraq was moving too slowly, arguing that aerial attacks had to be backed up by "more boots on the ground." He did not say which country should provide the troops.

War crimes court opens probe into Palestinian territories

January 16, 2015

AP - Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement she will conduct the preliminary examination with "full independence and impartiality."

Potential cases Bensouda could take on include allegations of war crimes by Israel during last summer's Gaza war where the Palestinians suffered heavy civilian casualties. Israel's settlement construction on occupied Palestinian lands could also be examined.

The cases could also include alleged war crimes by Hamas, which controls Gaza, including the firing of thousands of rockets at Israeli residential areas from crowded neighborhoods.

The prosecutor's announcement comes after the Palestinian Authority acceded to The Hague-based court's founding treaty and recognized its jurisdiction dating back to July, the eve of the last Gaza war. That move opened the door to an ICC investigation that could target possible crimes by both Israel, which is not a member of the court, and Palestinians.

A preliminary examination is not an investigation, but weighs information about possible crimes and jurisdiction issues to establish whether a full investigation is merited.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki welcomed the move and said the Palestinian Authority would cooperate.

"The Palestinian people called upon us to go to court and ask for an investigation and therefore we consider the announcement today as a historic event," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the decision and its timing. 

"It is scandalous that just a few days after terrorists slaughtered Jews in France, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court opens a probe against the state of Israel because we protected our citizens against Hamas, a terror organization that is in a covenant with the Palestinian Authority, and whose war criminals fired thousands of rockets at civilians in Israel," Netanyahu said. "Unfortunately it turns the International Criminal Court into part of the problem and not part of the solution."

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman criticized the probe as stemming "entirely from political and anti-Israel considerations" and said he would recommend not cooperating.

Israel has accused Hamas, the Islamic militant group sworn to Israel's destruction that rules Gaza, of using Palestinian civilians as human shields by launching rockets and carrying out other attacks from within crowded neighborhoods, while purposely attacking civilians in Israel.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed documents to join the ICC a day after the U.N. Security Council rejected a resolution Dec. 30 that would have set a three-year deadline for the establishment of a Palestinian state on lands occupied by Israel.

Joining the ICC is part of a broader Palestinian strategy to pressure Israel into withdrawing from the occupied territories and agreeing to Palestinian statehood. Abbas had been under heavy domestic pressure to take stronger action against Israel after the 50-day war between the Jewish state and militants in Gaza over the summer, tensions over holy sites in Jerusalem and the failure of the last round of U.S.-led peace talks.

Israel retaliated to the Palestinian move to join the ICC by freezing the transfer of more than $100 million a month in taxes it collects for the Palestinians.

Bensouda cast the decision to open a preliminary probe as procedural following the Palestinians' recognition of the court. It is unclear how long the preliminary examination might take. Bensouda said "there are no timelines" set in the court's founding treaty.

The prosecutor is currently conducting eight preliminary examinations in Honduras, Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Colombia, Georgia, Guinea and Nigeria. Some have been going on for years.

Judges at the court must approve any request by the prosecution office for a full investigation.

Richard Dicker, head of the international justice program at Human Rights Watch, said the preliminary probe, "is potentially a step toward reducing impunity in a conflict that has left thousands of victims without justice. As the prosecutor's office determines whether a formal investigation is warranted, we expect that it will scrutinize alleged crimes impartially regardless of the perpetrators. Other countries should refrain from politicizing the examination, and let the prosecutor do her job."

Established in 2002, the court has struggled to live up to high expectations that it would end impunity for high-ranking perpetrators of atrocities in conflicts around the globe.

It has completed only three trials, ending in two convictions and an acquittal, all of rebel leaders from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The court has no police force to secure crime scenes, gather evidence and arrest suspects and has repeatedly had trouble gaining custody of indicted suspects such as Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has been charged with genocide in the conflict-torn Darfur region of his country.