Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz is accusing International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda of being biased against Israel and skewing international law to serve the interests of the pro-Palestinian community.
Bensouda earlier Thursday doubled down on her assertion that the “State of Palestine” has jurisdiction over the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza to have Israel prosecuted for possible war crimes committed there.
Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, center, and Deputy Prosecutor James Stewart, right, attend the first audience with the chief of Central African Republic’s soccer federation Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands on January 25, 2019. (Koen Van Well/Pool photo via AP)
Steinitz accuses her of being “influenced by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the global BDS movement.”
“The Prosecutor’s disregard for the opinions of many of the world’s leading experts on international law points to her determination to harm the State of Israel and tarnish its name. In the name of this objective she has reformulated the rules of international law, inventing a Palestinian state while the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has yet to be concluded.”
Bensouda’s initial announcement of a possible war crimes probe sparked angry denunciations of her in Jerusalem, including accusations of her as anti-Semitic, and a coordinated Hebrew media push to portray her as a helpmate to former Gambian strongman Yahya Jammeh.
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