Prior to his visit to France and his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, President Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin called on France and other European states to oppose the decision of the International Criminal Court ( ICC) to launch a probe on Israeli war crimes alleged against Palestinians in an op-ed column published in the daily French Le Figaro.
“The decision by the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel for war crimes is a potential serious violation of international law,” Rivlin wrote. established to treat grave crimes to the international community as a political tool. It is a morally and legally broken decision. “
The president stressed the importance of international law to the state of Israel and the abuse by the ICC, reaffirming that Israel would stand by IDF soldiers who would protect its people when called upon on them to do so.
“We are passionate about the theory and its application to ensure that war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity are not allowed to go unprepared because domestic legal systems are willing or unable to prosecute people who are responsible for it. the son.
“Those soldiers and civilians [the] ICC is threatening to investigate whether our children and grandchildren, our neighbors and our friends. We will do all we can to protect them, just as they protect us when we are asked to do so. At the same time, we will hold ourselves to the highest standards of international law, even when that requires the worst decisions.
“International law cannot be a suicide agreement. It must provide real, effective and humane responses to real threats. This is a problem that other democratic states, including France, will face in Fighting terrorism around the world. The ICC’s unparalleled stance could put an end to a wide range of liberal democracies in order to defend themselves. “
At the end of the article, the president discusses the potential damage of the ICC decision on the possibilities of resuming talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
“I urge the friends of Israel and the Palestinians, in France and beyond, to state clearly, once and for all, that the road to peace runs directly between Jerusalem and Ramallah. Detours through the ICC in The Hague and the UN Human Rights Council. in Geneva against the outcome of peace and weakening the opportunities for agreement between us, ”he wrote.