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Source: http://www.inss.org.il/index.aspx?id=4538&articleid=8586
The ICC Preliminary Examination: Cause for Concern, Not Panic
(Institute for National Security Studies-Tel Aviv University) Pnina Sharvit Baruch - The fact that a preliminary examination was opened by the ICC does not, in and of itself, indicate that the prosecutor believes that war crimes were committed. As of late 2014, some ten preliminary examinations were underway, including of British forces in Iraq and U.S. forces in Afghanistan. There was also a preliminary examination of the Gaza flotilla incident from 2010, after which the ICC decided not to investigate the incident. The decision to open a preliminary examination should be taken seriously, but it is not cause for undue pressure. There is still a long way to go before an investigation is opened, and it is not at all certain that indictments will be issued against Israelis. If Israel undertakes serious investigations of the allegations that it committed war crimes, this will be an effective and significant obstacle to an ICC investigation of these acts. The writer, a senior research associate at INSS, headed the IDF's International Law Department.