In Israel, they were surprised by the unusual and precedent-setting announcement by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Karim Khan, after the Prosecutor’s team was supposed to land in Israel today (Monday) to meet with professional officials who will present to him how Israel is acting in accordance with international law in the war in Gaza. This is despite the fact that Israel does not officially recognize the authority of the court over it, since it is not a member of it.
In recent months, a discreet and unusual conversation took place between Israeli officials and the prosecutor’s team in an attempt to present to him its actions in accordance with the law. The meeting that was supposed to take place was also intended to lead to the prosecutor’s official visit to Israel. Khan visited Israel in January after being invited by the headquarters of the families of the abductees, but it was not an official visit.
Now, as mentioned, at the place of the visit, the prosecutor announced the submission of the request to issue the warrants. There are elements in Israel who consider the conduct to be in bad faith. During the visit, Khan was supposed to be exposed to the Israeli justice system and how the army operates according to the provisions of international humanitarian law in its operations in Gaza. The independence of the judicial system is significant and critical as part of the “principle of complementarity”, according to which the court does not investigate a country where there is a reliable judicial system that conducts an investigation independently. Israel claims that beyond the matter of authority there is no place for issuing arrest warrants due to the principle of complementarity.
The US has already condemned the decision
Following the decision that has dire consequences for Israel, Israel embarked on a political campaign that includes blitz talks with the leaders of the 123 member states of the court, with the aim of getting them to condemn the decision to publicly announce that they will not enforce the arrest warrants as long as they are issued. Britain and other countries have already announced that they condemn the decision. At the same time, the US president has already announced that the decision is “scandalous” and made it clear that the US will stand by Israel. Almost all European countries, Canada, Australia, Japan, countries in Latin America and Africa, Jordan and Tunisia are members of the tribunal. Not members of the tribunal: USA, China and Russia.
Now the three judges have to make a decision based on the request submitted by the plaintiff and the accompanying evidence. The decision to issue arrest warrants is made without receiving a response from the parties and can be made within days, weeks and at most months. One of the judges sat on the panel that determined in 2021 that the court was authorized to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and allowed a criminal investigation against Israeli officials and the Hamas organization.
For your attention: The Globes system strives for a diverse, relevant and respectful discourse in accordance with the code of ethics that appears in the trust report according to which we operate. Expressions of violence, racism, incitement or any other inappropriate discourse are filtered out automatically and will not be published on the site.