Foreign Ministry snubs ICC on Gaza probe

Foreign Ministry officials dismiss a warning by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court that said if Israel doesn’t provide reliable information for a preliminary probe into possible war crimes in Palestinian territories, the court may be forced to decide whether to launch a full-scale investigation based on Palestinian allegations.

“The International Court has no jurisdiction in this case, among other reasons, due to the fact that Palestine is not a state,” the Foreign Ministry says, according to Ynet.

“We hope that the court will not allow the abuse of its resources in order to advance an unfounded, cynical appeal with political motives behind it. The advancement of such a move will harm both the credibility of the institution and the chances to hold dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians,” the Israeli officials add.

Fatou Bensouda said in an interview with The Associated Press that she hasn’t received any information yet from either side regarding last summer’s Gaza war and urged Israel and the Palestinians to provide information to her.

The Palestinians accepted the court’s jurisdiction in mid-January and officially joined the ICC on April 1 in hopes of prosecuting Israel for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza conflict, so they are certain to provide Bensouda with information. Israel, however, has denounced the Palestinian action as “scandalous,” with Netanyahu warning that it turns the ICC “into part of the problem and not part of the solution.”