Israel playing chicken with the ICC

Israel is playing a high stakes game of chicken with International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda over its preliminary examination into alleged war crimes from the 2014 Gaza War.
Bensouda has recognized a State of Palestine since January and has adamantly defended her position on the issue.
She is not alone with support from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, the UNGA itself and maybe most importantly, support from the President of the Assembly of State Parties, which governs the ICC.
Jerusalem has rejected this position just as adamantly.
This is an important point as statehood is a prerequisite to gaining entrance to the ICC party and potential intervention.
Moreover, it appears to be moving in the direction of no official cooperation with Bensouda, even as the IDF continues on with its own investigations of alleged war crimes and Israel may, as it has in the past, be using third parties to eventually make its case before Bensouda.
Non-cooperation is a gamble which has worked for Israel in the past with countering the 2009 Goldstone Report and other UN reports, and is Israel’s strategy regarding the UN Human Rights Council McGowan-Davis Report due on June 29, but it may not work this time.
The Goldstone and McGowan-Davis reports emanated from the UNHRC, which has no binding power and can easily be blocked by the US veto at the UN Security Council.

 

Read more: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Playing-chicken-with-the-ICC-403038