The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations on Saturday night criticized the ruling of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that it has the legal authority to investigate alleged “war crimes” by Israel.
"We reject the unjustified assertion of jurisdiction by judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in cases brought by the Palestinian Authority. This politically and ideologically motivated attempt by the ICC to impose itself into matters that are well beyond its mandate violates its purpose, distorts international law, and undermines its own legitimacy as an unbiased judicial forum,” said Arthur Stark, Chairman, William Daroff, CEO, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Vice Chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
“The ICC’s jurisdiction limits its involvement to disputes between sovereign states. According to the criteria established by international law and the ICC’s own founding statute, it is demonstrably and irrefutably clear that the Palestinian Authority is not a sovereign state,” they added.
“We appreciate the US State Department expression of ‘serious concerns about the ICC’s attempts to exercise its jurisdiction over Israeli personnel’ and the statement of the Biden Administration’s view that the Palestinian Authority is not a sovereign state and therefore is ‘not qualified to obtain membership as a state, or participate as a state in international organizations, entities, or conferences, including the ICC,’” the Jewish leaders said.
“To claim otherwise is patently false and reflects the demonstrated anti-Israel bias of ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, who has led these efforts to target the Jewish State. The Palestinian Authority has further obstructed the path to peace by continuing to flout the agreed upon basis for negotiations.”
“In appealing to the ICC, Palestinian leaders are attempting to dictate a political end through judicial means and thereby avoid negotiations. These actions serve to exacerbate existing tensions, and will not achieve progress toward a viable and lasting resolution to a conflict that can only be resolved through direct negotiations between the parties.”
“We urge other countries to join the United States in objecting to this deeply flawed action by the ICC,” the statement concluded.
On Friday, a three-panel judge at the ICC ruled that Judea, Samaria, Gaza and eastern Jerusalem are within the jurisdiction of the court.
In a press release, the ICC said that the judges ruled that "the Court's territorial jurisdiction in the Situation in Palestine, a State party to the ICC Rome Statute, extends to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”
The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, announced in late 2019 that she intends to open a full investigation into alleged Israeli “war crimes”, but before opening a full probe, asked the ICC to rule on the territory over which it has jurisdiction because of the "unique and highly contested legal and factual issues attaching to this situation."
She subsequently ruled that “Palestine” is a state and the ICC has jurisdiction involving its cases.
Israel has argued that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over the case, since there is no State of Palestine.