Legal Experts Argue Impartiality, Point to ICC Bias in Alleged Israeli ‘War Crimes’ Case
The Jewish state has long been no stranger to criticism and double standards in international bodies. For decades, the United Nations and its associated bodies have singled out Israel for criticism, while ignoring human-rights abuses elsewhere.
A recent decision by the International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor has led to concerns that Israel is once again being singled out, while leading to questions from legal experts over the court’s jurisdiction over issues pertaining to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, as well as its impartiality in the case.
ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda stated last week that she considers “Palestine” as a state for the purposes of transferring criminal jurisdiction over its territory to The Hague, which sets in motion an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Israel in the “Occupied Palestinian Territory,” or the West Bank, Gaza Strip and eastern Jerusalem.
Eugene Kontorovich, director of International Law at the Jerusalem-based Kohelet Policy Forum and director of the Center for International Law in the Middle East at George Mason University in Washington, D.C., told JNS that Bensouda “has come to the absurd decision that a non-country can sue a non-member of the ICC for a non-crime that nobody has ever been prosecuted for, in which the ICC prosecutor herself has said does not exist when it comes to Russia and Crimea or Turkey and Cyprus.”
Read More: JNS