“No real effort” made by Israel to probe Gaza war crimes – ICC prosecutor
The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, Karim Khan, has defended his decision to bring war crimes allegations against Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, arguing Israel has made “no real effort” to investigate the allegations.
According to Asharq Al-Awsat via Reuters on January 17th, during an interview with Reuters, Khan stood by his decision over the arrest warrant, regardless of a vote last week from the US House of Representatives to sanction the ICC.
In November 2024, ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, the former Israeli defense chief Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the conflict in Gaza.
Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the court, denying having committed any war crimes.
Khan told Reuters: “We’re here as a court of last resort and …as we speak right now, we haven’t seen any real effort by the State of Israel to take action that would meet the established jurisprudence, which is investigations regarding the same suspects for the same conduct.”
The ICC currently has 125 member states and is reportedly the world’s “permanent court” to prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide as well as aggression.
Khan maintained that Israel had very good legal expertise, but questioned whether these expertise have been adequately applied to Israel`s actions in Palestine.
READ: Palestinian Authority should run Gaza in future, PM says
Meanwhile in the US, the passage of the “Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act” by the US House of Representatives on January 9th showed strong support for Israel’s government amongst Donald Trump’s team of Republicans.
The ICC regards this bill with concern, warning it could impede victims of atrocities in their search for justice and hope.
Trump’s first government imposed sanctions on the ICC in 2020 over investigations into war crimes in Afghanistan, these sanctions were lifted during Joe Biden’s administration. The then-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda as well as other staff members were also sanctioned in the US, as their credit cards were frozen and their US travel was restricted.
The ICC was initially founded in 1998, to assume the work of temporary tribunals that have conducted war crimes trials. These trials were based upon legal principles established during the Nuremberg trials after World War Two.
“It is of course unwanted and unwelcome that an institution that is a child of Nuremberg …is threatened with sanctions. It should make people take note because this court is not owned by the prosecutor or by judges. We have 125 states” said Khan.
Asharq Al-Awsat via Reuters
