DayofPal– ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan has called out Israel for failing to seriously address accusations of war crimes during its extermination of Gaza, saying it had made “no real effort” to investigate them.
In an interview with Reuters, a day after Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal in Gaza, Khan reaffirmed his decision to issue arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense chief Yoav Gallant after finding reasonable grounds for charging them with the war crime.
The two Israeli leader are facing charges of using starvation as a method of warfare, along with crimes against humanity, including murder and persecution.
“We’re here as a court of last resort,” Khan stated. “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.” He added, “That can change, and I hope it does.”
Khan clarified that an Israeli investigation into the allegations could lead to the ICC deferring the case back to Israeli courts under complementary principles, confirming that Israel can still demonstrate its willingness to investigate, even after warrants were issued.
“The question is, have those judges, have those prosecutors, have those legal instruments been used to properly scrutinize the allegations that we’ve seen in the occupied Palestinian territories, in the State of Palestine? And I think the answer to that was ‘no’.”
The ICC, a global tribunal with 125 member states, is tasked with prosecuting individuals for crimes like war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity.
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives had passed a bill sanctioning ICC officials over the arrest warrants issued against Israeli leaders.
In response, Khan said, “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.”
He concluded by emphasizing, “It is a matter that should make all people of conscience be concerned,” while refraining from elaborating on the potential implications of such sanctions for the ICC.
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