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How Israeli Cooperation Delayed the ICC Move
(Jerusalem Post) Yonah Jeremy Bob - While Israel rejected the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction, it cooperated with the ICC on a limited basis by providing counter-information to the charges being investigated by ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, who had threatened in mid-2015 to open a full war crimes trial if Israel did not provide her with information. Thus, Israel's decision to cooperate pushed off a full war crimes investigation from 2015 until late 2019. The ICC Prosecution is much weaker now than in 2015, both because it is already in fights with the U.S., Russia and England, and because some of its major cases, like the Kenya case, have fallen apart. Many states have also withdrawn from the ICC's Rome Statute in recent years. Moreover, Bensouda acknowledged that Israel had made a case that there were jurisdictional issues regarding "Palestine." And if a full criminal investigation starts before Bensouda leaves office, it will likely drag on for years. She is only in office until mid-2021. In addition, Bensouda's legal brief does not make a determination about the compliance of Israel's legal system with international law. Under the Rome Statute, no full ICC investigation can be initiated until the ICC Prosecutor makes a finding that Israel itself has failed to probe the alleged war crimes. However, Israel initiated over 500 probes and more than 30 full criminal investigations of its own soldiers during the 2014 Gaza War. It has also published several extensive public reports about mistakes made by IDF forces during the 2014 War. This is important since mistakes cannot be war crimes because they lack intent.