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Joining International Criminal Court Wouldn't Guarantee Palestinians a War Crimes Case
(New York Times) Jodi Rudoren - Legal scholars said the UN estimate that about 1,500 civilians were killed in Gaza [Israeli experts say the figure is much lower] might not meet the International Criminal Court's threshold for "unimaginable atrocities that deeply shock the conscience of humanity." Michael P. Scharf, dean of Case Western Reserve University law school, said that past cases "involved hundreds of thousands or at least tens of thousands of deaths," and that the court "requires that they be committed as part of a policy or plan, and not simply incidental to attacks on enemy targets." Scharf said any action in The Hague was "likely to unfold over a period of several years," if at all. Gaza "is not a case the ICC prosecutor is eager to take on, given its immense geopolitical implications." Israel, like the U.S., is not a member of the International Criminal Court, but Dore Gold, an adviser to Prime Minister Netanyahu, told Israel Radio Thursday, "the arena is not just The Hague. If they want to open up the legal arena, Israel has many tools." Citing cases in which victims' families have sued Iran in American courts for sponsoring terrorism, he added, "if there is property belonging to the Palestinian Authority in the United States and the Palestinian Authority is involved in terror attacks against Israeli citizens, we can help them with claims all over the world."