The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor said Wednesday she has launched an investigation into alleged crimes in the Palestinian territories, plunging the court into the midst of one of the most fraught conflicts of the past half-century.
Fatou Bensouda said in a statement the probe will be conducted “independently, impartially, and objectively, without fear or favor.”
Bensouda said in 2019 there was a “reasonable basis” to open a war crimes probe into Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip as well as Israeli settlement activity in the disputed West Bank territory.
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Following that assessment, she asked judges to rule on the extent of the court’s jurisdiction in the troubled region. They did that last month, saying that the court’s jurisdiction extends to territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.
In a statement, Anne Herzberg, Legal Advisor of NGO Monitor, noted the prosecutor’s bias against Israel.
“It was expected that Fatou Bensouda would open an investigation against Israel in light of the February 5 decision by the Pre-Trial Chamber. Her claim, however, that she and her office have consistently engaged in a “principled, non-partisan approach” is utterly laughable,” Herzberg said.
“From the very beginning of her tenure she encouraged the Palestinians to join the Court, has repeatedly relied upon claims from and engaged with Palestinian terror-linked NGOs, and invented out of whole cloth an attenuated legal theory to go after Israelis. And there are many other indications of bias. It is unclear if the new Prosecutor will be able to undo the considerable damage she has done to the institution’s credibility,” she continued.
The Palestinian Authority welcomed Wednesday’s move.
“This long-awaited step serves Palestine’s vigorous effort to achieve justice and accountability as indispensable bases for peace,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said. It called for concluding the investigation quickly because “the crimes committed by the occupation’s leaders against the Palestinian people are lasting, systematic and far-reaching.”
The Palestinians joined the court in 2015 and have long pushed for an investigation of Israel, which is not a member of the court. The Palestinians asked the court to probe Israeli actions during its 2014 war against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, as well as Israel’s construction of settlements in the disputed territory of the West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem.
The investigation will likely also look into alleged crimes by Palestinian militants. Bensouda has said her probe would look into the actions of Hamas, which fired rockets indiscriminately into Israel during the 2014 war.
In the past, Israeli officials have accused the court of overstepping its bounds, saying the Palestinians are not an independent sovereign state. Officials say that Israel has been unfairly singled out and reject the allegations. They say military actions in Gaza were acts of self-defense and the status of the West Bank is disputed and must be resolved through negotiations.
Eugene Kontorovich, director of international law at the Kohelet Policy Forum, a conservative Israeli think tank, said the court’s investigation “is entirely unjustified – and predictable, given its longstanding lawless bias against the Jewish state.”
Israel has also argued that its military justice system is independent and capable of investigating itself.
As CBN News reported in February, the ICC ruled it has jurisdiction to investigate alleged war crimes committed by both Israel and the Palestinians.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Tuesday hundreds of Israelis, himself included, could be subject to the war crimes investigation by the ICC.
Gantz told Reuters Israel is working to protect Israelis from the ICC.
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