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Islamic State Leader Urges Attacks in Saudi Arabia (Reuters)
(Washington Post) Eugene Kontorovich - The Palestinian government has made clear its intention to challenge in the International Criminal Court (ICC) the legality of Israeli settlements. The recent ICC decision not to pursue a referral by Comoros against Israel over the 2010 Gaza flotilla was based on the requirement that the Court only deal with situations of particular "gravity." The ICC's gravity measure involves the number of persons killed; for settlements it would be zero. Indeed, settlements do not appear to have direct individual victims. Moreover, the ICC would at most have jurisdiction over settlement activity only from the date of Palestine's acceptance of its jurisdiction. Settlement activity in this time frame would not immediately cross the ICC's gravity threshold. The writer is a professor at Northwestern University School of Law, and an expert on constitutional and international law.