(October 29, 2024)
Delays in the Palestine investigation trace back to 2015 when former ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda initiated a preliminary examination. Although the investigation met the necessary criteria in 2019, it was postponed due to jurisdiction debates over Palestinian territories. The formal investigation began in March 2021, yet no meaningful progress has been made, further delaying requests against Netanyahu and Gallant.
(May 28, 2024)
Thanks to their comprehensive access to Palestinian telecoms infrastructure, the sources said, intelligence operatives could capture the calls without installing spyware on the ICC official’s devices.
“If Fatou Bensouda spoke to any person in the West Bank or Gaza, then that phone call would enter [intercept] systems,” one source said. Another said there was no hesitation internally over spying on the prosecutor, adding: “With Bensouda, she’s black and African, so who cares?”
The surveillance system did not capture calls between ICC officials and anyone outside Palestine. However, multiple sources said the system required the active selection of the overseas phone numbers of ICC officials whose calls Israeli intelligence agencies decided to listen to.
According to one Israeli source, a large whiteboard in an Israeli intelligence department contained the names of about 60 people under surveillance – half of them Palestinians and half from other countries, including UN officials and ICC personnel.
In The Hague, Bensouda and her senior staff were alerted by security advisers and via diplomatic channels that Israel was monitoring their work.
(May 28, 2024)
Die Haftbefehle für Benjamin Netanyahu und Yoav Gallant, die der internationale Strafgerichtshof (IStGH) letzte Woche ausgeschrieben hatte, beziehen sich zwar auf Verbrechen, die die israelische Führung während des neuen Gaza-Krieges begangen haben soll, die Untersuchungen begannen aber bereits 2015.
Damals eröffnete die damalige Chefanklägerin des Internationalen Strafgerichtshofs, Fatou Bensouda, die Überprüfung von Vorwürfen gegen Einzelpersonen im Gazastreifen, im Westjordanland und in Ostjerusalem.
(May 28, 2024)
The former head of the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, allegedly threatened a chief prosecutor of the international criminal court in a series of secret meetings in which he tried to pressure her into abandoning a war crimes investigation, the Guardian can reveal.
Yossi Cohen’s covert contacts with the ICC’s then prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, took place in the years leading up to her decision to open a formal investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in occupied Palestinian territories.
That investigation, launched in 2021, culminated last week when Bensouda’s successor, Karim Khan, announced that he was seeking an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over the country’s conduct in its war in Gaza.
(…)
After the surprise meeting with Kabila and Bensouda in New York, Cohen repeatedly phoned the chief prosecutor and sought meetings with her, three sources recalled. According to two people familiar with the situation, at one stage Bensouda asked Cohen how he had obtained her phone number, to which he replied: “Did you forget what I do for a living?”
On March 17, 2023, it took the judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) just 23 days to confirm the arrest warrants requested by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children‘s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova. But more than five months after being filed on May 20, ICC magistrates are still deliberating on the arrest warrants requested by the same prosecutor for crimes committed in Israel and Gaza since October 7, 2023.
(21 October 2024 )
The judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) adopted an amendment to regulations 52 and 53 of the Regulations of the Court, which enters into force today. The amendments concern the presentation of the document containing the charges and the decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber to confirm or decline charges.
Regulations 52 and 53 of the Regulations of the Court, as amended, provide clear direction on how the charges need to be presented by the Office of the Prosecutor and in the decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber. The confirmation of charges decision is a pivotal document for the conduct of the trial and defines its scope. By harmonising the presentation of key pre-trial and trial documents, the judges enhance the efficiency and transparency of the confirmation of charges procedure and ensuing trial proceedings.
(October 25, 2024)
The ruling did not elaborate or disclose further details, saying that “the personal medical situation of Judge Motoc is entitled to medical confidentiality.”
Motoc was replaced by Beti Hohler, a Slovenian who was elected as a judge at the court last year after earlier serving as a trial lawyer in the court‘s prosecution office.
The decision is likely to further delay a decision on the request by the court‘s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan.
(October 17, 2024)
„In line with standard practice, the office will take relevant action if sufficient information is received confirming his death,“ Khan‘s division said of Sinwar, according toThe Associated Press.
Israeli authorities said DNA, fingerprints, and dental records confirm Sinwar‘s death.
The announcement left some international critics frustrated at the ICC‘s delay in issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, more than a year after Israel began its bombardment of Gaza.
Channel 12 news said Netanyahu wanted a probe into the ongoing war and how the military campaign against Hamas has been handled to be opened and then closed, with an update filed to the ICC that the charges had been investigated by Israel and therefore do not require the court’s intervention.
According to the report, Baharav-Miara rejected the request on the grounds that it was a blatant ploy and would not satisfy the ICC.
Nationality: Mexico (Latin American and Caribbean States)
Term: 11 March 2021 – 10 March 2030
Assumed full-time duty: 1 May 2021
Elected from: List B on 23 December 2020
Assigned to: Pre-Trial Division
Second Vice-President
Nationality: Benin (African States)
Term: 11 March 2018 – 10 March 2027
Assumed full-time duty: 11 June 2018
Elected from: List B on 8 December 2017
Assigned to: Pre-Trial Division
Nationality: Romania (Eastern Europe)
Term: 11 March 2024 – 10 March 2033
Elected from: List B on 4 December 2023
Assigned to: Pre-Trial Division
(today)
In filing to court, Karim Khan expresses frustration with court‘s delay in issuing warrants, urging swift action ahead of Netanyahu‘s scheduled speech at UN General Assembly later in September
(September 9, 2024)
The Court has yet to issue any warrants.
(…)
Four States Parties argued that the Court lacks or may not exercise jurisdiction over Israeli nationals who commit international crimes in Gaza: Argentina, Congo, Czechia, and Hungary. They were joined by the United States, which is not a State Party
(September 5, 2024)
“You cannot allow an attack on the court,” Khan said. “Then you have no rules-based system.”*
https://aje.io/7u2xai?update=3158140
* Which is exactly what Russia Israel & US want; hence the „Hague Invasion Act“
#US #Russia #Israel #ICC ..
Den USA ist bis zum 14. April Zeit gegeben worden, Zusicherungen zu drei Punkten im Berufungsantrag der Verteidiger Julian Assanges abzugeben. Diese Zusicherungen können dann wiederum von Assanges Anwaltsteam bis zum 13. Mai kommentiert werden, bevor der High Court dann am 20. Mai „oder möglicherweise zu einem vom Gericht bekannt gegebenen späteren Zeitpunkt“ bekannt geben, ob es zu einer Berufungsverhandlung in diesem Fall kommt.
Die Staatsanwaltschaft stellte jedoch keinen Haftbefehl gegen Marsalek aus, obwohl unmittelbare Flucht- und Verdunkelungsgefahr bestand, sondern ließ ihn am 19. Juni 2020 in Begleitung mindestens eines österreichischen Verfassungsschützers seelenruhig aus Deutschland herausspazieren. Sein Anwalt, der kürzlich dem Landgericht München einen angeblichen Brief von Jan Marsalek übermittelte, versicherte, Marsalek wolle das Geld nur auf den Philippinen „suchen“. Die Ermittlungen gegen den Fluchthelfer von Herrn Marsalek vom Verfassungsschutz wurden später eingestellt, da dieser ja nur „Reisehelfer“ gewesen sei. Schließlich habe zum Zeitpunkt der Flucht kein Haftbefehl gegen Marsalek vorgelegen. Ein Schelm, wer Böses dabei denkt.
Am 19. Dezember 2016 kam es auf dem Weihnachtsmarkt am Berliner Breitscheidplatz zu einer LKW-Attacke, die insgesamt zwölf Menschen das Leben kostete. Für diesen schwersten Terroranschlag in Deutschland seit der Bombe auf das Münchner Oktoberfest von 1980 gilt laut offizieller Version der Tunesier Anis Amri noch immer als alleiniger Täter. Doch nach über vierjähriger Aufklärung in mehreren parlamentarischen Untersuchungsausschüssen gibt es daran begründete Zweifel. Wenn nicht Amri, wer saß dann am Steuer des LKW? Wer waren die Mittäter und Helfer? Und warum haben die deutschen Sicherheitsbehörden kein Interesse, die wahren Hintergründe aufzuklären? Thomas Moser macht deutlich: Die ungeklärten Fragen aus dem NSU-Skandal wiederholen sich auf erschreckende Weise nun im Amri-Komplex.
Defense asked if pace can be slowed to 2ce a week & judges suggest upping to 4 x week.(No pics allowed in courtroom.)
An emergency order that Justice Minister Yariv Levin put in place for the courts when the war with Hamas began expired last week, and most courts have been ordered to resume normal operations.
Netanyahu is currently exempted from attending the hearings but may be called to testify in a few months.
(05.03.2023)
The trial and the coup are now simultaneously underway, but while the first is lumbering along, the second is galloping forward. The hearings in the Jerusalem District Court will resume only after Passover. Until the judges return from their hiatus, the wings of the High Court of Justice might be clipped, the Judicial Appointments Committee might be under full control of the politicians, or Israel might be in the throes of a historic constitutional crisis.
(14.02.2018)
The police announcement Tuesday – that the investigations into two cases involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been completed – came 13 months after Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit decided that a “preliminary examination” of the allegations, which itself took six months, should become full-fledged criminal investigations.
The conflict of interest agreement, signed in 2020, states that Netanyahu has conflicts of interest concerning appointments in the law enforcement system, given his trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust. This means Netanyahu is barred from making judicial appointments, or getting involved in legislative matters that may impact his ongoing trial. Netanyahu signed the arrangement three years ago when then-attorney general Avichai Mandelblit drew up the arrangement to prevent Netanyahu from being declared unfit for office.
After passing the law, Netanyahu publicly stated that he would not stop his judicial overhaul and would be directly involved in the process despite the conflict of interest agreement.
Today, 8:33 pm
A top law enforcement official tells Channel 12 he believes the government’s aim in eliminating the reasonableness standard is now to appoint “a general prosecutor who is ‘one of ours.‘”
“It’s all about who will close [Netanyahu’s] criminal case,” the unnamed official says.
“This is what the country has lost its democracy for. Awful.”
It will allow „liars, thieves, or maybe even rapists and murderers“ to be elected to the Knesset, form a coalition, and run as president, Ayalon, formerly commander of the navy and the Shayetet 13 navy commando unit, said. „Yigar Amir, the murderer of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, will be pardoned and it‘s likely that he‘ll run for the Knesset.“
(20. April 1997)
Netanyahu told CNN‘s Walter Rodgers he was „glad that the truth came out,“ and said the entire incident was „blown out of proportion and twisted out of shape.“
„It‘s politics,“ he said in an interview shortly after the attorney general released his report. „Of course there were people out to get us. But this is going nowhere. It‘s done. It‘s finished.“
“There already are legislative initiatives meant to increase political involvement in appointing judges, as well as curtailing the Supreme Court’s authority, apparently for the purpose of preventing judicial review of government actions…all I can say is this: first, this is a crude threat, unseen heretofore by the judiciary, meant apparently to influence its rulings; second, these steps are a surefire recipe for critically damaging democracy and for perpetuating corruption.”
These pointed words were written in 2008 by Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levi, who was part of the panel hearing a petition against a decision by then-Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to grant a lenient plea bargain to former President Moshe Katsav.
With careful consideration, it is plausible to suggest that Milchan‘s decision may have been influenced by the judges‘ proposal to withdraw the bribery charge in Case 4000, which was presented just before his testimony. The witness perceived this case to overshadow his own involvement, often remarking that the magnitude of „hundreds of millions of dollars“ cannot be compared to indulgences in cigars and champagne. This positioning allowed Milchan to assume a supporting role in the unfolding narrative, but an unexpected turn of events thrust him into the spotlight. Being fluent in the language of power, it appears that Milchan recognized Netanyahu‘s resurgent influence and chose not to risk challenging him.
If there was a time to wake up, once again, with all our strength against the judicial coup – that time is now. This is not a drill; it‘s back with us. The protest leaders promised in the beginning that they „sleep with their boots on.“ Now it‘s time to put ours on.
For this saga to end now, one of two things has to happen: Either the prosecution has to withdraw the indictment, or Netanyahu has to admit to some of the charges and leave office immediately. But the prime minister is now breathing easy and praising the judges whom he previously suspected of being leftists. And Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who views the court’s position as a colossal mistake, is currently determined to go all the way, including to the Supreme Court.
Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan, a key witness in one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption cases, is set to testify at the premier’s corruption trial via video link from Brighton, England, beginning on Sunday.
The film producer is a witness in Case 1000 — one of three in which Netanyahu faces charges — involving suspicions that the premier illicitly accepted gifts including cigars and champagne from Milchan and another billionaire, James Packer.
According to the report, during a routine hearing at the Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday, the judges engaged in a fifteen-minute discussion with the State Prosecutor‘s Office and Netanyahu‘s defense team and the other defendants, Shaul and Iris Elovich.
The judges reportedly emphasized that „the good of the state requires a settlement.“
(22.06.2023)
According to Walla and Channel 13, the judges convened with state prosecutors and Netanyahu’s defense team in their chambers in order to discuss the complexities involved in substantiating the bribery charge against the prime minister in Case 4000, the most significant of the three cases against Netanyahu that make up the trial.
Also known as the Bezeq-Walla case, it focuses on allegations that Netanyahu, during a previous tenure as prime minister, authorized regulatory decisions that financially benefited Bezeq telecommunications giant shareholder Shaul Elovitch by hundreds of millions of shekels.
(21.06.2023)
At the start of the hearing in Netanyahu’s ongoing trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust, the three judges summoned both sides’ lawyers to their chamber for a private consultation. However, they declined to say what the discussion had been about.
(…)
He also said that then-editor in chief Avi Alkalay routinely altered articles in ways that benefited Netanyahu. “There were also articles that were shelved,” he added.
Asked by prosecutor Yael Shahaf how Alkalay explained his behavior, Borochov said Alkalay told him “that he coordinates things with the Prime Minister’s Office,” and that if “things didn’t go the way they should,” he would be replaced with an editor in chief chosen by Netanyahu
(21.06.2023)
Yonatan Orich, Ofer Golan and Israel Einhorn attempted to intimidate Shlomo Filber, a witness in Netanyahu’s Case 4000, while being employed by the Likud as part of its 2019 election campaign, according to the State Attorney’s Office.
The three allegedly sent a mobile device with an external speaker to Filber’s home, and played a recording in which they accused the witness of lying.
(20. April 1997)
Netanyahu told CNN‘s Walter Rodgers he was „glad that the truth came out,“ and said the entire incident was „blown out of proportion and twisted out of shape.“
„It‘s politics,“ he said in an interview shortly after the attorney general released his report. „Of course there were people out to get us. But this is going nowhere. It‘s done. It‘s finished.“
Some jurists say the judges in the Netanyahu cases are allowing the proceedings to drag on too long
(May 9, 2023)
In another tweet, he said Rangers had captured the Islamabad High Court. The personnel of paramilitary force tortured many lawyers, also
PTI Secretary General Asad Umar tweeted that a six-member committee, headed by PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, would determine the next course of action.
“Pakistan’s biggest political leader has been arrested,” Umar said. “The whole world is being shown that there is no law in the country.”
(May 9, 2023)