Netanyahu
NetanyahuFlash 90

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu today referred to the investigation by the plaintiff of the Hague Tribunal before opening a criminal investigation against Israel.

"The claim of the International Criminal Court that Jews have no right to live in the homeland of the Jewish People is pure anti-Semitism. So is the claim that Jews do not have the right to defend themselves against those who seek their destruction," Netanyahu said.

He mentioned in this context the days of Hanukkah: "As we celebrate Hanukkah, the International Court of Justice issues decrees that are just as anti-Semitic as those of the Seleucid Empire against the Maccabees."

"We won then, and we will win now," Netanyahu added.

Yesterday Netanyahu said at the opening of the cabinet meeting, "While we are moving forward in new areas of hope and peace with our Arab neighbors, the ICC in The Hague has taken a step backwards. On Friday, it finally became a weapon in the political war against the State of Israel."

"The prosecutor’s decision against Israel is absurd on three counts. The first absurdity is that the prosecutor’s decision completely contradicts the founding principle of the court itself. The ICC was established after the horrors of World War II, mainly the horrors that were inflicted on our people, and it was designed to deal with problems that states would raise regarding war crimes, such as genocide or large-scale deportations. It was designed to do so for states that did not have true judicial systems in law, which are present – of course – in the western world.

"They took a Palestinian claim, who do not have a state, and accused the only democracy in the Middle East, which operates in accordance with the highest legal standards of the western democracies, which the court has no jurisdiction over. This is the first absurdity.

"The second absurdity is that the prosecutor’s decision contradicts historical truth. It opposes the right of the Jews to settle in the Jews’ homeland. To turn the fact that Jews are living in their land into a war crime is an absurdity of unimaginable proportions.

"The third absurdity is that the prosecutor’s decision contradicts contemporary truth. Who are they bringing here? Who are they accusing here? Iran? Turkey? Syria? No – Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. This is terrible hypocrisy. We will continue to fight against these three absurdities. We will continue to shatter them. We will struggle for our rights and for our historical truth with all the tools at our disposal.

"From the depth of our heart, we thank US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he and President Trump’s administration are struggling against these distortions, this injustice and this mendacity on a daily basis. We will continue to struggle against this always.”

נתניהו נגד החלטת בית הדין בהאג: "בית הדין הפך לנשק נגד ישראל"