[ad_1]
I I shouldn’t be surprised by the lawlessness of a government bombing and starving Palestinian civilians in Gaza, yet I was shocked by the brazenness of Israel’s efforts to undermine the International Criminal Court’s investigation into its war crimes. Like exposed by the Guardian along with Israeli media outlets +972 and Local Call, the Israeli government for nine years “deployed its intelligence agencies to monitor, hack, pressure, defame and allegedly threaten senior ICC officials in an attempt to derail the court’s inquiries”.
The effort was brazen. Mysterious men visited former Prosecutor General Fatou Bensouda outside her private home and handed her an envelope of money, which the ICC said was “probably [Israel] signaled to the prosecutor that he knew where he lived,” the Guardian wrote reported. They allegedly threatened her and her family, saying: “You should help us and let us take care of you. You don’t want to get involved in things that could compromise your safety or that of your family. They mounted an apparent sting operation against her husband and a “smear campaign” against her. They also extensively monitored her and her staff’s communications with the Palestinians, according to that report.
This oversight continued under her successor, the current ICC Prosecutor General Karim Khan. This may explain why the Israeli government appears to have done so i know about Khan’s plan to seek arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials before anyone else does.
The Israeli government apparently feels that Bensouda is vulnerable because she comes from a small African country, The Gambia. One source to the Guardian explained the Israeli government’s thinking: “With Bensouda, she’s black and African, so who cares?”
Israel misjudged Bensouda. She was impressively resisting this intimidation effort. Once received assurance by the court in February 2021 that Palestine has sufficient state status to accede to it and grant jurisdiction, it is acting. Her term was due to expire in June 2021, so she could have turned the issue over to Khan, but instead, in March 2021, she launched the investigation, which now involved Israeli officials.
Israel’s surveillance and intimidation efforts were not low-level deception operations. The covert operation was said to be led by Yossi Cohen, a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who at the time headed Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence agency. Netanyahu is said to have sent “instructions” regarding “areas of interest” to monitor and have been “obsessed, obsessed, obsessed” from the prosecutor’s intercepted communications. One would hope that he is obsessed with upholding justice rather than obstructing it.
This puts into perspective the claim first raised by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, that the ICC prosecutor should have gone with Israel’s record of investigating and prosecuting its own war criminals instead of seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Galant, Israel’s defense minister. There is no such a record when it comes to senior Israeli officials. On the contrary, the Israeli authorities seem to have started investigations only after learning from their observation that the ICC prosecutor is interested in an area—hardly a bona fide commitment to accountability. This is precisely why the ICC is needed – as a pillar of justice when national authorities are unwilling or unable to act.
The ability to refer to the ICC is one of the most important outcomes of the growing recognition of Palestine as a state. It was the adoption by the UN General Assembly in 2012 of Palestine as “non-member observer state’ which allowed it to join the court and grant jurisdiction over crimes committed in Palestinian territory. No wonder Israeli officials denounced this development as “diplomatic terrorism“. This was the beginning of the end of their impunity. It also shows the importance of recency answer by Norway, Ireland and Spain to recognize Palestine as a state – the only European governments to do so apart from Sweden. Others should join them in helping to end any question of ICC jurisdiction.
Palestinian human rights groups have also suffered from the weaponization of accusations of “terrorism” by the Israeli government. An important source of evidence for the ICC is the highly regarded group Al-Haqq. The Israeli government not only monitored Al-Haq’s communications with the International Criminal Court, but also (absurdly) labeled Al-Haq and five of his colleagues as “terrorist organizations”, a clear attempt to undermine the implementation of Palestinian rights. This shoot-the-messenger strategy continued until Israel blocked foreign journalists and international human rights groups from Gaza and closed Al Jazeera operations in Israel.
One of the strange twists in this episode was Israel’s reported use of Joseph Kabila, the former president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to “ambush” Bensouda during a meeting with Kabila. It is hardly surprising that Bensouda would meet with Kabila; he handed over more suspects to the ICC than anyone else. But he was too proverbially corruptwhich Israeli agents may have used.
As Khan announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, he issued attention: “I insist that all attempts to obstruct, intimidate or improperly influence the officers of this court must cease forthwith.” He cited Article 70 of Roman Statutethe founding treaty of the ICC, which prohibits “obstruction, intimidation or corrupting influence over an officer of the court” or “retaliation against an official … for the performance of duties”.
I assumed Hahn was referring to a group of US Republican senators who threatened “heavy penalties” if Khan accuses Israeli officials. There can be. But Khan may also have been trying to prevent any repeat of the Mossad operation against his predecessor.
These latest revelations show that the Israeli government is a lawless regime. His conduct of the war in Gaza is already showing a determination to violate provisions of international humanitarian law designed to spare civilians. Israeli officials are also apparently willing to use underhand methods to undermine the leading international tribunal that could hold them accountable. To Bensouda and Khan’s credit, the effort failed.
-
Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch (1993-2022), is visiting professor at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs
[ad_2]
