Channel 13 joins campaign against ICC prosecutor Bensouda

Hours after Yedioth Ahronoth ran a newspaper article painting ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda as the helpmate of brutal Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh, Channel 13 news has picked up the baton.

The channel, reporting on her “stained past,” airs testimonies from two people to the country’s Truth and Justice Commission, formed after Jammeh was pushed out, who allege that they were tortured and accuse Bensouda of being a large part of the state mechanism that cracked down on them.

Bensouda served as prosecutor and then attorney general under Jammeh before being pushed out by him. Her role in the Jammeh’s administration is no secret, though the channel correctly notes that she has never testified before the commission, which she has said publicly she backs.

On Twitter, Channel 13’s Nadav Eyal called the Yedioth report, which painted her as a literal devil’s advocate, “an excellent story that made me scream out with frustration this morning.”

The stories appears to be part of a concerted effort by some Israeli media outlets to join the Israeli government in casting shadows over Bensouda, given her decision to open the door to prosecution of Israel for war crimes.

The Israelis may be redrawing a page from the American playbook, after the US got the ICC to drop an investigation into American war crimes in Afghanistan by threatening to pull out of the ICC and canceling a visa for Bensouda.