Palestinians urged the International Criminal Court on Thursday to proceed with an investigation into newly declared war crimes in the Palestinian Territories that Israel has rejected.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, prosecuting the court against Semitism, described his decision to launch an investigation as “horrific”, telling Fox News: “I’m going to fight this in the everywhere. “
Outgoing court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said Wednesday that his office will formally investigate war crimes in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem after the court accepted its sovereignty over last month.
Her commitment to a “principled, neutral approach” saw criminal investigations into Israeli and Palestinian terrorists, including the Islamic group Hamas, which controls Gaza.
Bensouda has identified the IDF’s use of lethal and non-lethal force against Palestinians appearing at the Gaza border fence after 2018 as one possible focus of the investigation.
One of those killed in the border protests was Razan Al-Najar, a 21-year-old volunteer drugman killed by Israeli soldiers in June 2018 at a protest near Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
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Israeli troops fire tear gas from Israeli side of Israel-Gaza border while Palestinians protest on Gaza side of border, March 30, 2018
(Photo: Reuters)
Her mother welcomed the decision, saying it was a “victory for (all) Palestinians”.
“I hope the ICC is doing justice for my daughter, Razan, and for all the other cows killed by Israel,” Sabreen Al-Najar, 47, told Reuters. “I hope the court will take full account, and reveal the truth behind Israel’s role.”
The IDF said Najar was inadvertently killed by Israeli soldiers after he was hit by a bullet that was selling after he was shot at someone he described as the “instigator” of violent riots.
He accused Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as human shields while armed terrorists invaded the border, trying to break through the fence. Israeli officials say Najar had no plans to shoot.
Denying the court’s jurisdiction, Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said Israeli leaders could try to persuade the new prosecutor of the tribunal, Karim Khan of Britain, who will take office on June 15, to shift the ICC’s focus .
The ICC investigation is “not at all logical or moral, and certainly should not be the priority of a court that is entitled to debate the greatest atrocities committed by governments such as in Syria and Iran, Erdan told Radio Cymru.
Erdan said the investigation could arrest senior Israeli military officials, leaders and politicians if they served overseas.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement on Thursday, calling for the investigation to protect “rights and freedoms” and saying it also covered Operation 2014 Protective Edge in which Israel was fighting and Hamas militants in Gaza, and the Israeli settlement building in the West Bank.