Hebrew Channel 12 reported on Saturday evening that Israel decided not to cooperate with the International Criminal Court in any way, after the decision taken by the court´s prosecutor to open an investigation into accusations against Israel of committing War crimes against the Palestinians.
According to the channel, there are Israeli entities that may cooperate with the International Criminal Court, but they are informal and are private organizations not affiliated with the Israeli government.
The channel quoted an Israeli political source as saying that there is a real concern about issuing arrest warrants against politicians and military senior officers, whether they are current or former.
Avihai Mandelblit, the Legal Adviser of the Israeli government, issued a statement on Saturday evening, in which he considered the plaintiff’s decision to be illegal, and that the International Criminal does not have the competence to conduct any investigations, especially as it has accepted to proceed with the judicial procedures against Israel after submitting complaints from the Palestinian Authority "Illegally", according to his claim.
He said: "The court has no jurisdiction in the investigation for clear legal reasons, and it will not change the legal realization of this." He pointed out that this is based on the fact that the Palestinian Authority is a "state" as defined by the international prosecutor, but the authority is not a sovereign state, and there is agreement between it and Israel will solve the dispute between them within the future negotiations.
He pointed out that the court´s prosecutor refused to discuss the opinion that (Mandelblit) had given her, prior to the issuance of her decision, adding: "There was an opportunity to do so before making the decision."
He claimed that Israel is a democratic state of law and committed to respecting international law and human values, noting that it possesses a strong and independent legal system codified by its name throughout the world, and there is no room for international judicial intervention in this case, calling on the court to deal with "serious atrocities committed elsewhere." From the world the rule of law collapsed, "he said.
He added, "She had to study the document we submitted to it well and have a comprehensive and in-depth discussion, but it is not clear why she wanted the way to make this hasty decision."
Mandelblit republished his legal opinion on the prosecutor’s decision, which he prepared and published just a few hours before the decision, during which he claimed that the International Criminal Court does not have the jurisdiction to work and does not have the necessary authority to do so in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the second is that the court can only work within sovereign states It can grant authority to carry out its tasks, and the Palestinian Authority is not a sovereign entity, and it does not fulfill the conditions for a state in accordance with international law and the Rome Convention.
He considered that the accession of the Palestinians to the Treaty of Rome is not an alternative to the objective and substantive testing that enables it to give the court powers to operate in a sovereign state.
He pointed out that there are agreements between the Palestinian Authority and the occupation, supported by the international community, that any differences related to the joint conflict are resolved only within negotiations, and that by the Palestinians ’approach to the court, this means breaking the framework agreed upon between the two parties, and pushing the court to take a decision on the political issues that must Its solution is through negotiations, and not through criminal procedures in the absence of an agreement between the two parties, indicating that the court does not have the authority to hear these cases.
This coincides with successive statements made by Israeli politicians from the government and the Knesset, on Saturday evening, about the court’s decision.
Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue-White party, said that there is no basis to demand an investigation against Israel, noting that all of Israel in the government coalition, the opposition and others stand together to defend itself, and will struggle and fight for it.
He considered that the decision was political and was not in accordance with the law, describing the Israeli army as "the most moral armies in the world!", According to his claim, noting that Israel and its army do not commit any war crimes, as he claimed.
For its part, Elite Shaked, a member of the Knesset and leader of the New Right party, said that Israel must confront this decision and fight it with all the tools available to it.
She considered the decision to be political, "but the court has no authority to carry out such investigations," she said.
While the Minister of Transport and Communications described Smilrich Smetrich as the court "an anti-Semitic political body," he called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to give the Palestinian Authority 48 hours to withdraw any claims and complaints from the investigation against Israel, otherwise it would immediately collapse.
Addressing Netanyahu, he said: "You had to do this a long time ago, when the Authority requested that it be an observer state at the United Nations in 2015," considering that the advantages that the Authority has enjoyed cause great political harm to Israel.
He called for working to demolish Khan al-Ahmar from tomorrow, and demolishing every illegal building and site, support from Arabs and Europeans, calling for the use of American support in the face of all attempts to target Israel.
For his part, said Danny Danon, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, that this decision amounted to "persecution of the State of Israel", adding: "The Jewish people have historical and legal rights in their land, and will not erase them legal acumen."
