International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda is concerned that Israel may not show for hearing.
By YONAH JEREMY BOBPalestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki (C) leaves the ICC at the Hague, August 5, 2014(photo credit: REUTERS)
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has transmitted Israel’s legal briefs against The Hague court’s jurisdiction to the judges who will decide the issue.In her letter to the judges, Bensouda wrote that she is transmitting Israel’s legal briefs attacking the ICC’s jurisdiction in case Jerusalem decides to be a no-show for the hearings on the issue.If Israel does not show up, then Bensouda said this would at least ensure Israel’s arguments were taken into account (and that Israel could not claim its arguments were ignored.)Although Bensouda transmitted Israel’s briefs on Monday, it was only noticed in the media on Tuesday since Bensouda’s office did not put out a press release.Bensouda decided this past Friday that she would delve deeper into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, moving toward probing both sides for alleged war crimes.However, Bensouda asked the ICC Pretrial Chamber to approve her decision within 120 days due to the controversial context and the large number of novel legal issues involved.Most of Israel’s legal briefs by the justice and foreign ministries focused on attacking the idea of a state of Palestine.If Israel can convince the ICC Pretrial Chamber that Palestine has still not achieved statehood, then it is possible that the entire ICC prosecution’s case could fall by the wayside as lacking jurisdiction.However, Israeli legal officials are not optimistic being that to date the ICC Pretrial Chamber has been tougher on Israel than even Bensouda regarding the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla controversy.Bensouda has refused to prosecute the case three times, while the ICC Pretrial Chamber has been trying to convince her to prosecute Israeli soldiers involved in the incident in which the IDF killed 10 Turks during an altercation.The case is currently still bouncing back and forth between the ICC Appeals Chamber and the ICC Pretrial Chamber.
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