'Jordanian MPs Hague lawsuit ludicrous'

Jordanian parliament's law committee head files sues PM, FM, Barak, Dichter, Vilna'i and Ashkenazi.

By HERB KEINON
jordanian parliament 248.88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
jordanian parliament 248.88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Israeli diplomatic officials on Tuesday completely dismissed plans by Jordanian parliamentarians to file a lawsuit in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague against Israel for alleged war crimes stemming from Operation Cast Lead. "The lawsuit is legally ludicrous and laughable," Foreign Minister Spokesman Yigal Palmor said. "It doesn't hold water, they don't have any evidence. There was no investigation. It is all based on prejudice and rumors and propaganda, and on bad faith. It will go nowhere." The head of the Jordanian parliament's law committee, Mubarak Abu Yamin, reportedly went to The Hague earlier in the week to file the lawsuit. Among those named in the lawsuit were Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna'i and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi. Dichter angrily responded to the reports, telling Ynet that "there is no greater hypocrisy than a country that just 39 years ago, during Black September in 1970, murdered 10,000 of its Palestinian residents - dealing with international crimes today. Jordan will not be the one to teach Israel what combat morals are," he said. Israeli officials stressed that the lawsuit was coming from Jordanian parliamentarians, and not the Jordanian government. The officials said that the Jordanian parliament was essentially controlled by the opposition, and was fiercely nationalistic. Nevertheless, Dichter said that it was incumbent on the Jordanian government to nip the move in the bud. "We have learned that things that start with a soft voice can end with a lot of noise. The very fact that this type of thing is starting from Jordan toward The Hague is something that has to worry us as a state, not just as individuals," he said. Diplomatic officials said that although there have been numerous threats of lawsuits against Israeli politicians and IDF officers both in the Hague and elsewhere since the end of Operation Cast Lead, nothing "concrete" has yet transpired. The officials said Israel was not preparing a defense to the Jordanian parliamentarian lawsuit, because of a near-certainty that it would be thrown out of the ICC.