ByYONAH JEREMY BOB

Former Israeli Foreign Ministry Chief Legal Adviser and Ambassador to Canada told The Jerusalem Post this week that he still has hope that the Jewish state will avoid a showdown with the International Criminal Court.

The ICC in February initiated a criminal probe against Israel and Hamas.

Baker said that the ICC still has a chance to redeem itself from what he called politicized decision-making under ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, who steps down in mid-June.
The former top foreign ministry official expressed hope that her successor, Karim Khan, will view Israel's arguments against ICC jurisdiction for probing the IDF and the settlement enterprise more favorably.

According to Baker, the ICC should drop its case against the IDF because the IDF investigates itself, while it should drop the case against the settlements because building houses is no crime, because Israeli courts and jurists have addressed Palestinian rights in the West Bank and other arguments.

In addition, he said that he was hopeful that the idea that there is no State of Palestine would lead to the case being closed, even though the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber has endorsed such a state.

Finally, Baker gave his unique personal story from being present at the time that the ICC was formed.