ICC issues first report on war crimes in Palestinian

The International Criminal Court Prosecutor’s Office released its annual report on Thursday, including its first preliminary report regarding alleged war crimes committed by Israelis and Palestinians since June 2014. Its greatest focus is on Operation Protective Edge in July-August 2014.

 

Although there have been rumors for months of informal Israeli cooperation with ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, and the government has publicly stayed quiet on the issue, the report states that Israel has been formally cooperating since July 9.

 

The Foreign and Justice ministries did not have official comments, but a senior Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post that “Israel has an engagement with the ICC over competence issues.”

 

“Competence” is a code word for trying to convince the ICC that there is no state of “Palestine” and that the ICC cannot investigate IDF personnel, because the IDF’s own investigations of its personnel meet international law standards.

 

After the preliminary investigation was launched in January 2015, the ICC received and analyzed 66 communiques from Israel, the Palestinians and various organizations around the world detailing incidents of Operation Protective Edge, alleged settlements- related war crimes, and other issues.

 

Read More: ICC issues first report on war crimes in Palestinian- Israeli conflict – Arab-Israeli Conflict – Jerusalem Post