ICJ orders Israel to halt Rafah offensive in Gaza [Post Updated #89]

[hassan918]

ICC prosecutor seeks arrest of Israeli and Hamas leaders

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas's leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, for war crimes.

Karim Khan KC said there were reasonable grounds to believe that both men bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity from the day of Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October onwards.

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh, along with the group's military chief Mohammed Deif, are also wanted for arrest.

ICC judges will now decide whether they believe the evidence is sufficient to issue arrest warrants - something which could take weeks or months.

Israel Gaza war: ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas leaders

They are wanted for alleged war crimes committed in the 7 October attacks and the war which followed.

www.bbc.com

Netanyahu denounces bid to arrest him over Gaza war​

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has angrily condemned the International Criminal Court's prosecutor for seeking arrest warrants for him alongside Hamas's leaders over alleged war crimes in the Gaza conflict.

Mr Netanyahu said he rejected with disgust that "democratic Israel" had been compared to what he called "mass murderers".

Mr Netanyahu's comments have been echoed by US President Joe Biden, who said there was no equivalence between Israel and Hamas.

The chief ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and his defence minister Yoav Gallant bore criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

The ICC is also seeking a warrant for Hamas's leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, for war crimes.

On Monday, Mr Biden said there was "no equivalence - none - between Israel and Hamas".

"The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous," he said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed the president's condemnation, saying Washington "fundamentally rejects" the move. "It is shameful," he said. "[The] ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter."

Mr Blinken also suggested the request for arrest warrants would jeopardise ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire deal.

The court's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan KC, also applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh, along with the group's military chief Mohammed Deif.

He said the alleged crimes begin "from at least 7 October 2023" in the Hamas leaders' case, when the group launched its attack on Israel, and "from at least 8 October 2023" for the Israeli leaders.

The ICC defended its stance on Monday, saying that despite "significant efforts" it had not received "any information that has demonstrated genuine action at the domestic level [in Israel] to address the crimes alleged or the individuals under investigation".

A panel of judges at the ICC must now consider whether to issue the warrants and, if they do, countries signed up to the ICC statute are obliged to arrest the men if they have such an opportunity.

ICC: Netanyahu angrily rejects move to seek his arrest

Israel's prime minister lambasts the ICC, saying it has compared Israel to "mass murderers".

www.bbc.com

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Netanyahu denounces bid to arrest him over Gaza war​

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has angrily condemned the International Criminal Court's prosecutor for seeking arrest warrants for him alongside Hamas's leaders over alleged war crimes in the Gaza conflict.

Mr Netanyahu said he rejected with disgust that "democratic Israel" had been compared to what he called "mass murderers".

Mr Netanyahu's comments have been echoed by US President Joe Biden, who said there was no equivalence between Israel and Hamas.

The chief ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and his defence minister Yoav Gallant bore criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

The ICC is also seeking a warrant for Hamas's leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, for war crimes.

On Monday, Mr Biden said there was "no equivalence - none - between Israel and Hamas".

"The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous," he said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed the president's condemnation, saying Washington "fundamentally rejects" the move. "It is shameful," he said. "[The] ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter."

Mr Blinken also suggested the request for arrest warrants would jeopardise ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire deal.

The court's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan KC, also applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh, along with the group's military chief Mohammed Deif.

He said the alleged crimes begin "from at least 7 October 2023" in the Hamas leaders' case, when the group launched its attack on Israel, and "from at least 8 October 2023" for the Israeli leaders.

The ICC defended its stance on Monday, saying that despite "significant efforts" it had not received "any information that has demonstrated genuine action at the domestic level [in Israel] to address the crimes alleged or the individuals under investigation".

A panel of judges at the ICC must now consider whether to issue the warrants and, if they do, countries signed up to the ICC statute are obliged to arrest the men if they have such an opportunity.

ICC: Netanyahu angrily rejects move to seek his arrest

Israel's prime minister lambasts the ICC, saying it has compared Israel to "mass murderers".

www.bbc.com

lol... ICC Prosecutor should stop travelling in Helicopter now

 

[BouncerGuy]

What ICC arrest warrants mean for Israel and Hamas

Benjamin Netanyahu responded with fury to the news that he might face an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It was "a moral outrage of historic proportions", he said. Israel was "waging a just war against Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organisation that perpetrated the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust."

In a bitter personal attack, Mr Netanyahu said Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was one of the "great antisemites in modern times."

Mr Khan, he said, was like judges in Nazi Germany who denied Jews basic rights and enabled the Holocaust. His decision to seek arrest warrants against Israel’s prime minister and defence minister was "callously pouring gasoline on the fires of antisemitism that are raging around the world.’

Mr Netanyahu spoke English on the video that was released by his office. He does that when he wants his message to reach the foreign audience that matters most to him, in the US.

The outrage expressed by the prime minister, and echoed by Israel’s political leadership, was generated by pages of carefully chosen legal language in a statement issued by Mr Khan, the ICC chief prosecutor who is a British King’s Counsel.

Word by word, line by line, they add up to a devastating series of allegations against the three most prominent leaders of Hamas as well as Israel’s prime minister and defence minister.

A determination to apply international law and the laws of armed conflict to all parties, no matter who they are, lies at the heart of Mr Khan’s statement in which he lays out his justification for requesting arrest warrants.

"No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader - no one - can act with impunity." The law, he says, cannot be applied selectively. If that happens, "we will be creating conditions for its collapse".

It is the decision to hold both sides’ conduct up to the template of international law that is causing so much anger, and not just in Israel.

US President Joe Biden said it was "outrageous" to apply for arrest warrants. There was "no equivalence - none - between Israel and Hamas".

Hamas demanded the withdrawal of the allegations against its leaders, claiming that the ICC’s prosecutor was "equating the victim with the executioner". It said the request to issue arrest warrants for the Israeli leadership came seven months too late, after "the Israeli occupation committed thousands of crimes".

Mr Khan does not make direct comparisons between the two sides, except to lay out his claim that they have both committed a series of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

He also emphasises that this latest war comes in the context of "an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a non-international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas".

The court treats Palestine as a state as it has observer status at the United Nations, which meant it was able to sign up to the Rome Statute which created the ICC.

Mr Netanyahu has declared that Palestinians will never have independence on his watch.

Instead of seeing disgraceful and false parallels between, as Israel’s President Isaac Herzog put it, "these atrocious terrorists and a democratically elected government of Israel", human rights groups have applauded the way that the ICC prosecutor is seeking to apply the law to both sides.

Btselm, a leading Israeli human rights organisation, said the warrants marked "Israel’s rapid decline into a moral abyss".

"The international community is signalling to Israel that it can no longer maintain its policy of violence, killing and destruction without accountability," it added.

Human rights campaigners have complained for many years that powerful Western countries, led by the US, turn a blind eye to Israeli violations of international law, even as they condemn and sanction other states who are not in their camp.

The actions being taken by Mr Khan and his team are, they believe, long overdue.

Mr Khan says that the three main leaders of Hamas committed war crimes that include extermination, murder, hostage-taking, rape and torture.

The men named are Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, Mohammed Deif, the commander of the Qassam Brigades, its military wing, and Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas political bureau.

As part of their investigation, Karim Khan and his team interviewed victims and survivors of the 7 October attacks.

He said Hamas had assaulted fundamental human values: "the love within a family, the deepest bonds between a parent and a child were contorted to inflict unfathomable pain through calculated cruelty and extreme callousness".

Israel, Mr Khan said, does have the right to defend itself. But "unconscionable crimes" did not "absolve Israel of its obligation to comply with international humanitarian law".

The failure to do that, he said, justified issuing warrants for the arrest of Mr Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes including starvation of civilians as a weapon of war, murder, extermination, and intentional attacks on civilians.

From the start of Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks of 7 October, President Biden has issued a series of rebukes to Israel, expressing concern that it was killing too many Palestinian civilians and destroying too much civilian infrastructure in Gaza.

But in a careful balancing act with a close ally which he has always supported, Mr Biden and his administration have not spelt out in public about what they mean.

Mr Khan makes his interpretation crystal clear. Israel, he says, has chosen criminal means to achieve its war aims in Gaza - "namely, intentionally causing death, starvation, great suffering, and serious injury" to civilians.

A panel of judges at the ICC now will consider whether to issue the arrest warrants. States signed up to the ICC’s Rome Statute would then be obliged to detain the men if they had the chance.

The 124 signatories do not include Russia, China and the US. Israel has not signed either.

But the ICC has ruled that it does have legal authority to prosecute criminal acts in the war because the Palestinians are signatories.

If the arrest warrants are issued, it would mean that Mr Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, would not be able to visit close Western allies without risking arrest.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the ICC’s actions were "not helpful to reaching a pause in the fighting, getting hostages out or humanitarian aid in". But if the warrants are issued, Britain would have to make the arrests, unless it could argue successfully that Mr Netanyahu had diplomatic immunity.

An all-important exception for Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant is the US. The White House believes the ICC does not have jurisdiction in the conflict, a position that might widen the split inside Joe Biden’s Democratic party over the war.

Progressives have already welcomed the ICC’s action. Staunch allies of Israel among the Democrats might support Republican moves to pass a law to sanction ICC officials or ban them from the US.

As rumours of impending indictments churned through Europe, America and the Middle East weeks ago, a group of Republican senators issued the kind of threat to Mr Khan and his staff that they might have heard in a movie.

"Target Israel and we will target you... you have been warned."

Yoav Gallant would also be unable to travel freely. The words he used when announcing that Israel would besiege Gaza has been frequently quoted by critics of Israel’s conduct.

Two days after the Hamas attacks on 7 October, Mr Gallant said: "I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed… we are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly".

Mr Khan writes in his statement that "Israel has intentionally and systematically deprived the civilian population in all parts of Gaza of objects indispensable to human survival".

Famine, he says, is present in parts of Gaza and imminent in others.

Israel denies there is a famine, claiming that food shortages are caused not by their siege - but by Hamas thefts and UN incompetence.

If an arrest warrant is granted for Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas political branch, he will have to think harder about his regular trips to meet senior Arab leaders. He is likely to spend much more time at his base in Qatar, which like Israel, did not sign the Rome Statute that set up the ICC.

The other two accused Hamas leaders, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, are believed to be hiding somewhere inside Gaza. An arrest warrant does not add much to the pressures on them. Israel has been trying to kill them for the last seven months.

The warrant would also put Mr Netanyahu in a category of accused leaders that also includes Russian President Vladmir Putin, and late Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya.

Mr Putin faces an arrest warrant for the unlawful deportation and transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia.

Before he was killed by his own people, Col Gaddafi’s arrest warrant was for murder and persecution of unarmed civilians.

It is not attractive company for Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of a state that prides itself on its democracy.

BBC

 

[BouncerGuy]

US signals support for possible ICC sanctions over Israel warrants

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has suggested he will work with lawmakers on potential sanctions against the International Criminal Court as its prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials.

Mr Blinken told a congressional hearing he was "committed" to taking action against the "profoundly wrong-headed decision".

His comments come amid a Republican push to impose sanctions on ICC officials, which may see a vote as soon as this week.

The United States is not a member of the court but has backed previous prosecutions, including the ICC's arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine.

At a Tuesday hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, James Risch, its top Republican, asked whether Mr Blinken would support legislation to address the ICC "sticking its nose in the business of countries that have an independent, legitimate, democratic judicial system".

"We want to work with you on a bipartisan basis to find an appropriate response. I'm committed to doing that," the secretary of state said.

Mr Blinken said "there's no question we have to look at the appropriate steps to take to deal with, again, what is a profoundly wrong-headed decision".

The ICC's chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced on Monday that he had applied for arrest warrants against Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

Mr Khan is also seeking arrest warrants for three Hamas officials - Yahya Sinwar, its leader in Gaza, Mohammed Deif, the commander of its Qassam Brigades military wing, and Ismail Haniyeh, the head of its political bureau.

US President Joe Biden said on Monday it was "outrageous" to apply for arrest warrants. There was "no equivalence - none - between Israel and Hamas", he added.

Mr Blinken's remarks echoed the broader pushback in Washington over the court's decision.

At least two measures imposing sanctions on the ICC had already been introduced in Congress as the court ramped up its inquiry into Israel's handling of the war in Gaza.

Support on Capitol Hill appears to be coalescing around a bill launched earlier this month by Texas Republican Chip Roy.

The Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act would target ICC officials involved with the case by blocking their entry to the US, revoking any current US visas they hold, and prohibiting them from any property transactions within the country - unless the court ceases its cases against "protected persons of the United States and its allies".

At least 37 lawmakers in the Republican-led House are now co-sponsoring the legislation, including Elise Stefanik, the chamber's third highest-ranking Republican.

Ms Stefanik is fresh off a visit to Israel, where she met with Mr Netanyahu, spoke at the Knesset and met with the families of hostages trapped in Gaza.

The court "equivocates a peaceful nation protecting its right to exist with radical terror groups that commit genocide", she told the BBC in a statement.

Andy Barr of Kentucky, another Republican supporting the bill, said further pursuit of the ICC's case against Israel must "be met with the full force of our sanctions".

Less clear, however, is whether Democratic lawmakers will get behind the effort.

The party's moderate and liberal wings have grappled with Mr Biden's Israel policy for months, as young progressive voters have pushed the president to more sharply criticise the Netanyahu government's operations in Gaza.

Ohio's Greg Landsman, one of a few Democrats who voted last week to reverse Mr Biden's pause on a weapons shipment to Israel, told the BBC he hopes Congress will issue a bipartisan rebuke of the ICC "to send the strongest message possible".

"The decision [to seek arrest warrants] will only further inflame tensions and divisions, embolden anti-Israel conspiracies, and ultimately, it will undermine the credibility of the ICC," he said in a statement.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson urged Chuck Schumer, the Senate's top Democrat, to sign a letter on Tuesday inviting Mr Netanyahu to address a joint meeting of Congress.

In March, Mr Schumer called for new elections in Israel but he described the ICC's case on Monday as "reprehensible".

Sen Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the BBC that he was unsure about moves to sanction ICC officials.

"I'm not there yet imposing sanctions on the ICC, as opposed to looking to see whether the off ramp of a ruling by the judges of the ICC that they're not going to proceed with warrants is something I think may come in the next couple of days," the Democrat said.

But Mr Coons added that he is discussing taking action with his committee colleagues from both parties.

But some left-wing Democrats have expressed their support for the ICC's actions.

Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar said the court's allegations are "significant" and the US must support its work as it has done on past occasions, including in the case of Libya.

"The application for arrest warrants is merely the beginning of a judicial process," she wrote in a statement on Monday.

"The ICC has been a functioning court – it has seen convictions, acquittals, and dismissals, as we would expect from an impartial and non-political judicial body."

It remains unclear whether any sanction efforts have yet gathered the support needed to advance through either the Republican-led House or the Democrat-controlled Senate.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday that administration officials were discussing "next steps" with lawmakers.

Watching from across the world in Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that its adversary's "attitude and willingness to use sanctions methods even against the ICC" was "more than curious".

BBC

 

[aboveandbeyond]

Hypocrisy is getting exposed day by day.

 

[BouncerGuy]

World Court to rule on request to halt Israel's Rafah offensive

Judges at the U.N.'s top court will rule on Friday on South Africa's request to order Israel to halt its Rafah offensive and withdraw from Gaza, part of a wider case accusing Israel of genocide.

South Africa's lawyers asked the court last week to impose emergency measures, and said Israel's attacks on the southern Gaza city "must be stopped" to ensure the survival of the Palestinian people.

Rulings by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as the World Court, are final and binding, but have been ignored in the past. The court has no enforcement powers.

Israel has repeatedly dismissed the accusations of genocide as baseless. It has argued in court that the operations in Gaza are self defence and targeted at Hamas militants who attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

An Israeli government spokesman said on Thursday that "no power on Earth will stop Israel from protecting its citizens and going after Hamas in Gaza".

An Israeli military spokesman said the army is operating "carefully and precisely" in Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge from Israeli bombing and operations elsewhere in the Palestinian enclave.

A decision against Israel by the highest U.N. legal body could pile more diplomatic pressure on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Several European countries said on Wednesday they would recognise a Palestinian state, and the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) - also based in The Hague - announced on Monday he had filed an application for arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as leaders of Hamas.

The ICC prosecutes individuals for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, while the ICJ is the highest U.N. body for disputes between states.

The ICJ has previously rejected Israel's demand to throw out the overall case. The court has ordered it to prevent acts of genocide against the Palestinians and allow aid to flow, while stopping short of ordering a halt to Israeli military operations.

Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. More than 35,000 Palestinians have since been killed in the offensive, Gaza's health ministry says.

REUTERS

 

[FearlessRoar]

Humanitarian situation in Rafah 'disastrous', court hears​

The current president of the court, Judge Nawaf Salam, is leading today's hearing.

He's currently explaining the background to the case. He says the court must determine first whether there's been a change in the situation since the court's order of 28 March this year.

He says the court has observed "with regret the catastrophic living conditions of people in the Gaza strip has deteriorated further", especially prolonged and widespread deprivation of food.

BBC

 

[FearlessRoar]

Judge turns to Israel's Rafah offensive​

The court's president is turning to recent events in Rafah now, with the Israeli military offensive starting there on 7 May and some 800,000 Palestinians displaced as of 18 May.

He's quoting various UN officials who have repeatedly underscored the risks of a military offensive there.

Those risks have now started to materialise and will intensify if the offensive continues, the judges quotes UN officials as saying.

BBC

 

[FearlessRoar]

ICJ orders Israel to halt its offensive on Rafah, Gaza in new ruling​

Judges at the top United Nations court ordered Israel to halt its offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and withdraw from the enclave, in a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide, citing “immense risk” to the Palestinian population.

Friday’s decision marked the third time this year the 15-judge panel has issued preliminary orders seeking to rein in the death toll and alleviate humanitarian suffering in Gaza. While orders are legally binding, the court has no police to enforce them.

Reading out a ruling by the International Court of Justice or World Court, the body’s president Nawaf Salam said provisional measures ordered by the court in March did not fully address the situation in the besieged Palestinian enclave now, and conditions had been met for a new emergency order.

Israel must “immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part,” Salam said, and called the humanitarian situation in Rafah “disastrous”.

The ICJ has also ordered Israel to report back to the court within one month over its progress in applying measures ordered by the institution, and ordered Israel to open the Rafah border crossing for humanitarian assistance.

Israel launched its assault on the southern city of Rafah this month, forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee a city that had become a refuge to about half of the population’s 2.3 million people.

Rafah, on Gaza’s southern edge, has also been the main route in for aid, and international organisations say the Israeli operation has cut off the enclave and raised the risk of famine.

Reporting from Deir Al Balah in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hind Al Khoudary said that people in Gaza have not yet reacted to the ICJ ruling since many of them do not have internet connection.

“People here in the Gaza Strip are currently trying to feed themselves…after being constantly displaced. So people are not very well aware of what’s going on. They’re asking journalists…if there is anything positive,” she said.

Khoudary added that as journalists in Gaza, they do not want to give people in the region false hope and are waiting to hear more information about how the ICJ’s ruling will be implemented in Rafah, where the situation remains intense.

South Africa’s lawyers asked the ICJ in the Hague last week to impose emergency measures, saying Israel’s attacks on Rafah must be stopped to ensure the survival of the Palestinian people.

In a highly-charged ruling in January, the court ordered Israel to do everything in its power to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza but stopped short of ordering a halt in the fighting.

Israel has repeatedly dismissed the case’s accusations of genocide as baseless, arguing in court that its operations in Gaza are self-defence and targeted at Hamas fighters who attacked Israel on October 7.

An Israeli government spokesman said on the eve of Friday’s decision that “no power on Earth will stop Israel from protecting its citizens and going after Hamas in Gaza”.

The ICJ, also known as the World Court, is the highest UN body for hearing disputes between states. Its rulings are final and binding but have been ignored in the past. The court has no enforcement powers.

ICJ orders Israel to halt Rafah assualt amid ‘immense risk’ to Palestinians

Judges at the top United Nations court order Israel to immediately halt its military assault on the southern Gaza city.

www.aljazeera.com

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Israeli spy chief ‘threatened’ ICC prosecutor over war crimes inquiry

The former head of the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, allegedly threatened a chief prosecutor of the international criminal court in a series of secret meetings in which he tried to pressure her into abandoning a war crimes investigation, the Guardian can reveal.

Yossi Cohen’s covert contacts with the ICC’s then prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, took place in the years leading up to her decision to open a formal investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in occupied Palestinian territories.

That investigation, launched in 2021, culminated last week when Bensouda’s successor, Karim Khan, announced that he was seeking an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over the country’s conduct in its war in Gaza.

The prosecutor’s decision to apply to the ICC’s pre-trial chamber for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, alongside three Hamas leaders, is an outcome Israel’s military and political establishment has long feared.

Three of those sources were familiar with Bensouda’s formal disclosures to the ICC about the matter. They said she revealed Cohen had put pressure on her on several occasions not to proceed with a criminal investigation in the ICC’s Palestine case.

According to accounts shared with ICC officials, he is alleged to have told her: “You should help us and let us take care of you. You don’t want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family.”

One individual briefed on Cohen’s activities said he had used “despicable tactics” against Bensouda as part of an ultimately unsuccessful effort to intimidate and influence her. They likened his behaviour to “stalking”.

The Mossad also took a keen interest in Bensouda’s family members and obtained transcripts of secret recordings of her husband, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation. Israeli officials then attempted to use the material to discredit the prosecutor.

The revelations about Cohen’s operation form part of a forthcoming investigation by the Guardian, the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call, revealing how multiple Israel intelligence agencies ran a covert “war” against the ICC for almost a decade.

Contacted by the Guardian, a spokesperson for Israel’s prime minister’s office said: “The questions forwarded to us are replete with many false and unfounded allegations meant to hurt the state of Israel.” Cohen did not respond to a request for comment. Bensouda declined to comment.

Revealed: Israeli spy chief ‘threatened’ ICC prosecutor over war crimes inquiry

Mossad director Yossi Cohen personally involved in secret plot to pressure Fatou Bensouda to drop Palestine investigation, sources say

www.theguardian.com

 

[JaDed]

No organisation can make Israel accountable, ridiculous, Canada is the worst , saying they will take refugees but literally voting for Israel in every damn forum.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Mexico is seeking to join a case initiated by South Africa against Israel for alleged violations of the United Nations Genocide Convention during its war in Gaza, according to a statement published by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Tuesday

Mexico invoked Article 63 of the Statute of the Court, which grants countries other than those interested in the case the right to intervene in the process, the court’s statement read. "If they do so, the interpretation given by the court's ruling will be equally binding on them," it said.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the “most important thing is to achieve peace, that is Mexico's position.”

We want the war to stop, and we feel that the UN should work more on that,” the president said on Wednesday during a press conference when asked about the case against Israel in the UN’s top court.

Source: CNN News

 

[FearlessRoar]

US envoy suggests UK's Starmer would not respect ICC Israel arrest warrants​

The US ambassador to the UK has suggested that Labour leader Keir Starmer would not honour the International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The ICC announced on 20 May that it is seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders, on the grounds of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Supporters of Israel and Netanyahu, including US President Joe Biden and the UK's ruling Conservative Party, have responded to the announcement with outrage.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has dismissed the move as "deeply unhelpful". The opposition Labour Party has meanwhile backed the ICC's decision, but Labour Party leader Keir Starmer has refused to say whether he would enforce the court's decision against Netanyahu.

While his shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, defended the court last week, saying the UK has a legal obligation to comply with a warrant if issued, US ambassador to the UK Jane Hartley noted: "But I don't think Keir Starmer has said that, has he?"

Hartley indicated that the Biden administration supported Starmer's stance on the ICC's decision to seek arrest warrants against Israeli leaders.

"Keir Starmer has been very thoughtful in his approach to this. He's communicating with our government and this is a difficult issue," the ambassador said in an interview with Politico.

"I mean, it's a difficult issue for President Biden also, but I think what I've seen come out of Labour is pretty consistent with what the US policy is."

Netanyahu and Gallant face war crimes and crimes against humanity charges over the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare; wilfully causing great suffering; wilful killing; intentional attacks on a civilian population and extermination, alongside several other charges.

The move is the most significant diplomatic setback for Israel in decades. The application for arrest warrants will be submitted to a panel of judges at the ICC, who will then decide whether to issue them.

Earlier in the war, there was consensus among Labour and the Conservatives to back Israel in the conflict.

Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, backed Israel's decision to cut off food, water and other essentials to Gaza's population.

However, as the war progressed, Labour called for a humanitarian ceasefire and began to backtrack from its previous strong support of Israel.

That has coincided with a drop in support among traditionally Labour-backing constituencies, such as the British Muslim community.

Israel's war on Gaza has killed more than 36,300 Palestinians, the majority women and children, and destroyed vast swaths of the besieged enclave since 7 October.

US envoy suggests UK's Starmer would not respect ICC Israel arrest warrants

Labour leader Keir Starmer has so far refused to say whether he would enforce court's decision

www.middleeasteye.net

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Netanyahu ‘disappointed’ by Biden’s stance against ICC sanctions

Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview broadcast Sunday he is “disappointed” US President Joe Biden won’t pursue sanctions against the International Criminal Court, as its prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister.

Both Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress have pushed to impose sanctions on the court, though the White House has said it would block their legislation.

“The United States said that they would, in fact, in a bipartisan way, back the sanctions bill,” Netanyahu said in an interview on Sirius XM radio, which was recorded on Wednesday -- before the latest Gaza truce plan emerged.

“I thought that was still the American position because there was a bipartisan consensus just a few days ago,” he said.

“Now, you say there’s a question mark. And frankly, I’m surprised and disappointed.”

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said last month that he was seeking warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as top Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohamed Deif, on suspicions of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Washington is not a member of the International Criminal Court, and has traditionally rejected its jurisdiction to issue warrants for US citizens, but has worked with the court on some issues as an observer.


Al Arbiya

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Israel’s war on Gaza: More than 1 million forced to flee Rafah​

• More than one million people forcefully displaced from Rafah, as Israeli forces kill 40 people in last 24 hours in attacks across Gaza.
• Doubts grow over the latest truce proposal after Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who are facing potential arrest warrants from the ICC, cast doubt on the US-backed proposal.
• Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan has welcomed the truce plan but told Al Jazeera on Sunday that the group is yet to receive any written documents.

Source: Al Jazeera

 

[Cricket Warrior]

US House passes legislation to sanction ICC over Gaza warrants bid

The US House of Representatives has voted to pass legislation that would sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) after its prosecutor applied for arrest warrants against Israeli officials.

The move comes after The Hague-based court's prosecutor said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant should be arrested on charges relating to the war in Gaza.

The prosecutor is also seeking warrants for three leaders of Hamas.

The bill, proposed by pro-Israel Republicans, targets ICC officials involved in the case by blocking their entry to the US.

On Tuesday, it passed with a majority of Republican support by a vote of 247-155. Two Republicans voted "present" and 42 pro-Israel Democrats crossed the aisle to back the legislation.

Though the bill passed in the House, it is not expected to become law.

The legislation will likely be ignored by Democrats who control the US Senate, where it would have to pass before it could be signed into law by the president.

But President Joe Biden has also indicated that he "strongly opposes" the bill and the administration has said it does not support the sanctions.

If it did become law, however, the legislation would also revoke any US visas held by ICC officials and restrict them from making property transactions in the US.

Some Senate Democrats, like John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, an outspoken supporter of Israel, have indicated they would support legislation sanctioning the court.

US House votes to sanction ICC over Israel-Gaza arrest warrants

The plan to punish ICC officials for seeking to arrest Israeli officials could split Joe Biden's Democrats.

www.bbc.com

 

[aboveandbeyond]

US House passes legislation to sanction ICC over Gaza warrants bid

The US House of Representatives has voted to pass legislation that would sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) after its prosecutor applied for arrest warrants against Israeli officials.

The move comes after The Hague-based court's prosecutor said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant should be arrested on charges relating to the war in Gaza.

The prosecutor is also seeking warrants for three leaders of Hamas.

The bill, proposed by pro-Israel Republicans, targets ICC officials involved in the case by blocking their entry to the US.

On Tuesday, it passed with a majority of Republican support by a vote of 247-155. Two Republicans voted "present" and 42 pro-Israel Democrats crossed the aisle to back the legislation.

Though the bill passed in the House, it is not expected to become law.

The legislation will likely be ignored by Democrats who control the US Senate, where it would have to pass before it could be signed into law by the president.

But President Joe Biden has also indicated that he "strongly opposes" the bill and the administration has said it does not support the sanctions.

If it did become law, however, the legislation would also revoke any US visas held by ICC officials and restrict them from making property transactions in the US.

Some Senate Democrats, like John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, an outspoken supporter of Israel, have indicated they would support legislation sanctioning the court.

US House votes to sanction ICC over Israel-Gaza arrest warrants

The plan to punish ICC officials for seeking to arrest Israeli officials could split Joe Biden's Democrats.

www.bbc.com

Wow. The so called champions of democracy have shown their true colours.

 

[FearlessRoar]

Spain says to join South Africa’s Gaza genocide case against Israel at ICJ​

Spain says it will join the case filed by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which accuses Israel of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention in its war on the Gaza Strip.

Making the announcement on Thursday, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said, “We made this decision in light of the continuation of the military operation in Gaza.”

“We also observe with enormous concern the regional extension of the conflict,” he said in a news conference.

Spain took the decision to not only “let peace return to Gaza and the Middle East” but also due to its commitment to international law, Albares said.

“Our sole goal is to put an end to the war and to advance on the road of applying the two-state solution”, Albares said, a week after Spain, along with Ireland and Norway, recognised the state of Palestine.

The move by the three countries sparked Israeli fury, which accused them of “rewarding terrorism” and withdrew its ambassadors.

South Africa brought its case against Israel in January, accusing it of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza, which began in October, has surpassed 36,500, according to health officials in the besieged and bombarded territory.

Israel launched the assault after the Palestinian group Hamas led an attack on southern Israel from Gaza, killing about 1,140 people, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on Israeli statistics.

It will likely take years before the ICJ will rule on the merits of the genocide case. While its rulings are binding and cannot be appealed, the UN’s top court has no way to enforce them.

Israel has repeatedly said it is acting in accordance with international law in Gaza. It has called the genocide case baseless and accused South Africa of acting as “the legal arm of Hamas”.

Spain will now join several countries including Colombia, Egypt and Turkey in formally requesting to join the case against Israel.

Spain says to join South Africa’s Gaza genocide case against Israel at ICJ

The case accuses Israel of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention in its war on Gaza.

www.aljazeera.com