Israel Using Mafia Tactics to Shut Down War Crime Inquiry

Israel is doing everything in it’s power to shut down the ICC probe into war crimes it may have committed last year including lobbying foreign powers to withdraw their fundings of the court, and Netanyahu’s plan to launch a media campaign directed against the International Criminal Court in The Hague and its Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

ICC prosecutors said Friday they would examine “in full independence and impartiality” crimes that may have occurred since June 13 last year which would include Operation Protective Edge.

Israel is lobbying member-states of the International Criminal Court to cut funding for the tribunal in response to its launch of an inquiry into possible war crimes in the Palestinian territories, officials said on Sunday.

ICC prosecutors said on Friday they would examine “in full independence and impartiality” crimes that may have occurred since June 13 last year. This allows the court to delve into the war between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza in July-August 2014.

The decision came after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in the absence of peace talks and against strong opposition from Israel and the United States, requested ICC membership, which comes into effect on April 1.

Israel, which like the United States does not belong to the ICC, hopes to dent funding for the court that is drawn from the 122 member-states in accordance with the size of their economies, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Sunday.

“We will demand of our friends in Canada, in Australia and in Germany simply to stop funding it,” he told Israel Radio.

Islamist group Hamas, which is deemed a terrorist group by Israel and the West, on Saturday welcomed the ICC inquiry and said it was prepared to provide material for complaints against the Jewish state.

Sources:

http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Liberman-We-will-lobby-Canada-Australia-and-Germany-to-cut-ICC-funding-388099

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