The letter is signed by, among others, the former Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, the former Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, the former Prime Minister of Spain, Jose Maria Asner, the former President of Uruguay, Luis Alberto Lacaje, the former Minister of Defense of Germany, Karl Theodor Gutenberg, and other ministers and national security experts.
The joint letter was organized by the “Friends of Israel Initiative” and is addressed to Karim Khan, who is due to take up the post of Chief Prosecutor and Director of the International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC) in about two months.
Plaintiff’s statement in the founding on the opening of a criminal investigation against Israel
The international leaders explain in the letter at length that Israel is not a signatory to the Treaty of Rome, is not a member of the court, and therefore the court has no reason or justification to prosecute its citizens. “We united together with concern because of the unprecedented, de-legitimized campaign for the Jewish state, supported by a number of international institutions,” they emphasize.
Former officials are urging prosecutors to re-examine the intent of outgoing prosecutor Pato Bensuda to open investigations against Israelis, adding that “our position is supported by governments, the US, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Ogden and experts. Leading internationals. “
They emphasize that Israel has a glorious legal system and therefore the intervention of the tribunal is contrary to its own basic principles. The leaders also write that the opening of the investigations is contrary to the Oslo Accords, which were recognized by the international community, and will harm the Abrahamic agreements and the peace process between Israel and the Arab countries.
In an explicit warning to Khan, against turning the tribunal into a political entity, they wrote: “We have concerns that such an investigation would harm the integrity of the tribunal. It is essential that the tribunal continue to adhere to the principles of international law , Etc.), and to refrain from action that is motivated by political motivation, or appears to be such, “the letter reads.
The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Pato Bensuda, announced in December 2019 that she was interested in launching a full investigation into war crimes in Judea and Samaria and Gaza, but left the final decision to the judges – whether Judea and Samaria, Gaza and East. Jerusalem is indeed under the jurisdiction of the tribunal. “I am convinced that there is a reasonable basis to start an investigation. I am convinced that war crimes have been or are being committed in the territories of Judea and Samaria, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip,” she wrote in her decision.