The ICC gives Israel one month to request a postponement of the war crimes investigation

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has given Israel and the Palestinians one month to request an adjournment. for war crimes allegedly committed in the Palestinian Territories, provided they can demonstrate that they are conducting their own research.

A notification “was sent on March 9 to all ICC Member States, including all states that normally exercise jurisdiction, including Israel and Palestine,” said a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, who asked not to be named.

Attorney General Fatou Bensouda launched an investigation in early March into war crimes allegedly committed in the Palestinian territories. an initiative that was rejected by Israel but welcomed by the Palestinians.

Under the Hague-based ICC system, a state may, if it so wishes, try to prove that it has itself launched an investigation into the specific crimes and therefore request that the Court’s investigation be submitted to it.

This request must be made “within one month of receipt” of the notification, according to the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC.

Bensouda had previously stated that there is a “reasonable basis” to believe that war crimes were committed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and in the Gaza Strip; by members of the Israeli forces, the Israeli authorities, the Palestinian Hamas and Palestinian armed organizations during the 2014 Gaza war.

Unlike Palestine, a non-internationally recognized state, Israel is not a member of the ICC and has strongly opposed any investigation.

The court “took a decision that is the very essence of anti-Semitism and hypocrisy”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reacted after the announcement of the start of the investigation.