(Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs) Amb. Alan Baker - After the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, the issue is if the issuing of the arrest warrants is ultra vires [beyond the legal power or authority] of the ICC Statute, since there exists no Palestinian state, no sovereign Palestinian territory and hence the court has no jurisdiction. Therefore, the warrants are illegal, in violation of the court's statute and worthless, and should be ignored by all states. The ICC has been permeated by politicization conducted over the years by the Palestinian leadership to such an extent that the court has lost any credibility. Israel has sound legal justification in international humanitarian law for all its actions, as has been acknowledged by leading military experts and as is borne out by accurate statistics and footage. Claims of starvation are false and contrived and footage exists indicating passage of food trucks and statistics regarding calories per person. The ICC prosecutor, in addition to his own personal issues under investigation, has consistently demonstrated stark bias in respect to the Palestinian claims against Israeli political and military personnel, in violation of the terms of his job as set out in the statute. Any state cooperating with the ICC arrest warrants is endorsing an illegal action by the court in violation of the ICC statute. The writer, Director of the Institute for Diplomatic Affairs at the Jerusalem Center, served as Legal Adviser and Deputy Director-General of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
2024-11-24 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive