The Israel Allies Foundation is an umbrella organization that coordinates the work of 50 Israel Allies Caucuses around the world in order to mobilize political support for Israel based on shared Judeo-Christian values. This network includes the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, the Congressional Israel Allies Caucus, and the European Union Parliamentary Israel Allies Caucus.
The goal of the meeting was to unite leading legislators from these countries and strengthen the global voice in support for Israel. Over the course of the meeting, legislators from the US, Brazil, Australia, Hungary and the Czech Republic who chair their Israel Allies Caucuses praised their governments for publicly rejecting the ICC’s investigation, while legislators from the EU and South Africa spoke about their continued work to highlight the biased nature of the investigation, notwithstanding the fact that their governments have supported the probe.
US Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado), who co-chairs the Congressional Israel Allies Caucus, encouraged other countries to follow the lead of the US and leave the ICC.
“With their announcement of an investigation into Israel, the International Criminal Court has demonstrated once again that it is a fundamentally unserious and broken organization," Lamborn said. "Of all of the atrocities and war crimes being committed around the world, they chose to target the freest country in the Middle East for persecution. Like so many international organizations, the ICC reeks of antisemitism. Until the ICC reforms itself, all countries should withdraw as the US has done.”
The chairman of the South African Parliamentary Israel Allies Caucus, Kenneth Meshoe, highlighted the ICC’s history of racial bias.
“In almost two decades of the ICC’s existence, the only individuals who have been indicted by the ICC have been African," he said. "In a misguided attempt to correct their bias against Africans, the ICC is investigating Israel, which is not a member of the ICC, and is treating Palestine as a member state when in fact it is not a state at all. The ICC has unfortunately enough war crimes to find within its own member states. The fact that the ICC ignores these atrocities and instead focuses only on Africa and Israel underscores its racist and anti-Semitic bias which must be corrected.”
Brazilian Congresswoman Geovania De Sa Rodrigues thanked President Jair Messias Bolsonaro for his leadership in taking a firm stance against the ICC.
“The decision of the International Criminal Court to initiate an investigation against Israel violates international law and prevents the possibility of advancing in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians" she said.
Knesset Member Sharren Haskel (New Hope), who chairs the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, thanked the parliamentarians for their vocal and bold support for Israel against the ICC investigation.
“The ICC was created in order to protect humanity from the worst forms of evil, but instead they are attempting to harm Israel’s safety and security," said Haskel. "The fact that Hamas, a terror organization, has praised the ICC investigation, shows that this investigation is not about advancing peace but simply about delegitimizing Israel."
Professor Eugene Kontorovich, Director of the International Law Department at the Kohelet Policy Forum, addressed the parliamentarians and elaborated upon the illegal and unprecedented actions of the ICC.
"In the history of international law, no court has ever done what the ICC is trying to do - prosecute people for the crime of living somewhere. But their action is so lawless, that a growing number of countries and lawmakers are rejecting its investigation as illegitimate -something that has not happened with any other ICC action," he said.
President of the Israel Allies Foundation Josh Reinstein said “I want to thank the Israel Allies parliamentarians for working to increase awareness of the anti-Israel bias inherent in this investigation. Through the work of the Israel Allies Foundation, we are able to unite like-minded parliamentarians from countries throughout the world, proving that they are not lone voices but rather one large global network whose faith-based support for Israel is unbreakable.”