THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT INVESTIGATES ISRAEL

Recently, the International Criminal Court’s lead investigator, Fatau Bensouda, decided to investigate Israel, and also Hamas in Gaza, for war crimes in the last Gaza war. This decision goes against the standards of the International Criminal Court (ICCC) itself. The United States does not endorse this organization; nor does Israel. Both predicted years ago that the ICCC would be subject to politicization and would become a danger. This is exactly what has happened.

There are several things to note about this decision:

The Court broke its own standards for when an investigation should be undertaken. These include the standard that the court will not investigate a country that has its own independent investigation arm to pursue serious war violations. Israel has such a process and investigates claims seriously. In addition, Hamas flagrantly violates international standards by using its civilian population as human shields and sending rockets to indiscriminately kill civilians. This practice is what the ICCC should be investigating.

The Court violates the standards of what counts as occupation. According to the Geneva conventions, transferring and establishing populations in a conquered territory of another recognized nation is a war crime. However, Israel’s settlements in Judea and Samaria are not settlements in another recognized nation. Only the Security Council of the United Nations can recognize a nation. It must have borders and a unified government with institutions that can constitute a nation. With Gaza and the West Bank divided, no such government is or has ever been possible. The territories have not been recognized as a nation, but only proposed in 1948 and then immediately rejected by the Arab nations. Furthermore, the last recognized status for the territories was the League of Nations mandate which embraced Jewish settlement west of the Jordan River. Bensouda interprets the law as she wants it to be, not as it is written (as do many liberal justices).

The Court shows Anti-Semitic bias. How? All readers should read the definition of anti-Semitism by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. This excellent definition is now the official policy of the U. S. as well as the policy of several European Alliances:

Applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.

This is obviously being violated, especially when we consider Russia’s occupation of parts of Ukraine and Georgia, Turkey’s occupation of Northern Cyprus, China’s war crimes against Tibet and its Muslim population and more. War crimes mean that those who were in leadership can face arrest and trial in The Hague, Netherlands. This would also include leftist/labor governmental leaders of Israel from the ’67 War since they supported settlements for the purpose of strategic depth necessary to Israel’s defense.

The ICCC considers itself to have the authority to investigate and arrest people from nations not subscribed to its jurisdiction and to sidestep or ignore its own standards and terms of reference when politically desirable!

It is my hope, with pro-Israel governments in England, the USA, Brazil and Australia, that there will be sufficient push back to discredit these ICCC efforts. I do see anti-Semitism behind them.

What do we do? We protest the ICCC. We advocate for Israel. And we pray.

Daniel Juster,

Restoration from Zion of Tikkun Global