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Source: https://jcfa.org/the-icc-sacrificed-its-credibility-to-target-israel/
The ICC Sacrificed Its Credibility to Target Israel
(Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs) Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch - In its initial stages, Israel was one of the driving forces behind establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC). However, it soon became clear that the court had become irrevocably politicized and would be used as another weapon and forum of lawfare against the Jewish state. As a result, Israel, similar to the U.S., never joined the ICC. The non-existent "State of Palestine" did join the ICC in 2014. From the moment it was admitted, "Palestine" repeatedly and relentlessly urged the court to open investigations against Israeli servicemen and officials for crimes that were alleged to have been committed in "Palestine." The problem was that an independent "State of Palestine" never existed in the past, nor does it exist today. Thus, in the absence of any clear geographical area that could be called "Palestine," the ICC prosecutor asked the court to define the "the territorial scope of this jurisdiction." In practice, the ICC prosecutor was asking the court to make a decision not only to invent the non-existent "State of Palestine," but also to set its borders. The ICC decided, in direct contradiction of fact and law, that the "borders" of the new state were the Armistice Lines drawn in 1949. If the ICC accepts the U.S. position that precludes jurisdiction over officials from non-member states, it would have to accept the same argument concerning Israel. If the court accepts the claim that the U.S., a Western, law-abiding democracy, is both willing and able to investigate and prosecute potential offenders, it would have to accept the same claim with regard to Israel. Instead of targeting real offenders, the ICC is wasting its time, resources, and finances, pandering to the political whims of those who seek to punish law-abiding countries engaged, within the restrictions and limitations of international humanitarian law, in the war against terror. The writer, former director of the Military Prosecution in Judea and Samaria, is director of the Palestinian Authority Accountability Initiative at the Jerusalem Canter.