(November 22, 2024)
More than six months after the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor sought arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and defense minister, a ruling was finally issued Thursday. In the interim, both Israel and the United States took unprecedented steps to obstruct the court’s decision-making process.
(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?”
The International Criminal Court (ICC) faces an unprecedented moment in its history, one that could shape its legacy and impact the lives of thousands.
Prosecutor Karim Khan and his team have risen to their mandate, applying for arrest warrants in the face of enormous risk and pressure.
Yet, the ICC as a whole is faltering. The delay in the judges‘ decision-making is a catastrophic failure to uphold the court‘s own mission.
In May, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan requested the court to issue warrants of arrest for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, along with three Hamas leaders. The ICC is yet to make a decision despite the mounting death toll in and destruction of Gaza amid Israel’s continuing genocidal violence.
(…)
If Bensouda was threatened and blackmailed for merely investigating allegations of war crimes perpetrated before the current genocidal war, one can only fathom the pressures and threats, real or assumed, that Khan faced or feared.
Now that he has done his duty, it is for the three sitting judges of the pre-trial chamber to decide whether to issue the warrants or not. Whether they face the same threats as Bensouda is unknown, but they must be acutely aware that the very credibility of the ICC also hangs in the balance if warrants of arrest for Netanyahu and Gallant are not issued without further delay.
This is being taken forward as a matter of the utmost urgency, with a view to bringing to justice those responsible for Rome Statute crimes.
All wars have rules and the laws applicable to armed conflict cannot be interpreted so as to render them hollow or devoid of meaning. This has been my consistent message, including from Ramallah last year. Since that time, I have not seen any discernible change in conduct by Israel. As I have repeatedly emphasised, those who do not comply with the law should not complain later when my Office takes action pursuant to its mandate.
To all those involved: my Office is actively investigating any crimes allegedly committed. Those who are in breach of the law will be held accountable.
I also continue to call for the immediate release of all hostages. This also represents an important focus of our investigations.
(today)
Bensouda announced on March 3 that she had opened a full investigation into actions committed by Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, and east Jerusalem since 2014.
US-Außenminister Antony Blinken teilte in Washington mit, Biden habe eine entsprechende Verfügung seines Amtsvorgängers Donald Trump rückgängig gemacht. Dadurch seien auch die von der Trump-Regierung verhängten Strafmaßnahmen gegen die Chefanklägerin des Gerichts, Fatou Bensouda, sowie ICC-Abteilungsleiter Phakiso Mochochoko, aufgehoben. Visarestriktionen für Mitarbeiter des Gerichtshofes seien ebenfalls gestrichen worden.
The move comes nearly one month after ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced the decision to open a formal investigation into war crimes in the Palestinian Territories, which will examine both sides in the conflict
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(02.09.2014)
Israel and Gaza‘s ruling Hamas agreed to an open-ended ceasefire on August 26 after seven weeks of fighting – an uneasy deal that halted the Protective Edge operation, with more than 2,200 killed.
(03.08.2014)
The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) began their current operation against Hamas after three teens were kidnapped and killed. The military op has already claimed over 1,500 civilian lives in Gaza.
(03.03.2021)
Today, I confirm the initiation by the Office of the Prosecutor (“Office“) of the International Criminal Court (“ICC“ or the “Court“) of an investigation respecting the Situation in Palestine. The investigation will cover crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court that are alleged to have been committed in the Situation since 13 June 2014, the date to which reference is made in the Referral of the Situation to my Office.
Der Wechsel als Chefankläger erfolgt in einer kritischen Zeit für das Gericht. Es steht unter großem politischen Druck wegen geplanter Ermittlungsverfahren zu Kriegsverbrechen in Palästina und in Afghanistan. Dadurch wären auch Prozesse gegen Militärs aus Israel oder den USA möglich.
(02.09.2014)
Israel and Gaza‘s ruling Hamas agreed to an open-ended ceasefire on August 26 after seven weeks of fighting – an uneasy deal that halted the Protective Edge operation, with more than 2,200 killed.
(03.08.2014)
The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) began their current operation against Hamas after three teens were kidnapped and killed. The military op has already claimed over 1,500 civilian lives in Gaza.
On this basis, the majority, composed of Judge Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou and Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, found that the Court‘s territorial jurisdiction in the Situation in Palestine extends to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
(…)
Judge Péter Kovács, Presiding Judge, appended a partly dissenting opinion, in which he disagrees on the fact that Palestine qualifies as ‚[t]he State on the territory of which the conduct in question occurred‘ for the purposes of article 12(2)(a) of the Statute, and that the Court‘s territorial jurisdiction in the Situation in Palestine extends – in a quasi-automatic manner and without any restrictions – to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
The judges – Presiding Judge Peter Kovacs of Hungary, Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut of France and Judge Reine Alapini-Gansou of Benin – accepted the findings of Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s preliminary investigation from December of 2019 that there is a basis for investigating the matter further, and ruled that the court does have jurisdiction in the Palestinian territories, rejecting Israel‘s argument that it lacks such authority.
Am Mittwoch nun hat US-Aussenminister Mike Pompeo zudem eine Drohung wahr gemacht und Fatou Bensouda sowie einen hochrangigen Mitarbeiter auf die Sanktionsliste gesetzt. Das heisst, sie werden gleichgesetzt mit Terroristen, ihr Vermögen in den USA kann eingefroren werden. Solche Sanktionen hatte zuletzt auch Israels Regierung gefordert, die verärgert ist über – allerdings nur sehr verhaltene – Ermittlungen wegen möglicher Kriegsverbrechen in Gaza.
The new measures, announced pursuant to the US Executive Order 13928 dated 11 June 2020, are another attempt to interfere with the Court‘s judicial and prosecutorial independence and crucial work to address grave crimes of concern to the international community as mandated under the ICC Rome Statute.
These coercive acts, directed at an international judicial institution and its civil servants, are unprecedented and constitute serious attacks against the Court, the Rome Statute system of international criminal justice, and the rule of law more generally.
The Court continues to stand firmly by its personnel and its mission of fighting impunity for the world‘s most serious crimes under international law, independently and impartially, in accordance with its mandate. In doing so, the Court benefits from the strong support and commitment of two thirds of the world‘s States which are parties to the Rome Statute.
The European Union is unwavering in its support for the universality of the Rome Statute and for the ICC. We will resolutely defend it from any attempts aimed at obstructing the course of justice and undermining the international system of criminal justice.
Pompeo also said Phakiso Mochochoko, the head of the ICC’s Jurisdiction, Complementarity and Cooperation Division, had also been blacklisted under sanctions authorized by President Donald Trump in June that allow for asset freezes and travel bans.
“Today we take the next step, because the ICC continues to target Americans, sadly,” Pompeo told reporters.
The US has imposed sanctions on the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court just weeks after she allowed a complaint of Israeli “war crimes” to proceed.
Announcing sanctions against the ICC’s Fatou Bensouda, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the court “continues to target Americans”, in apparent reference to investigations into US Army actions in Afghanistan.
This was sparked by a 2015 declaration by the Palestian government to give jurisdiction to the intergovernmental institution „over alleged crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, since June 13, 2014.“
In December, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced that she had found a basis for an investigation against Israel and Hamas over suspicions that war crimes were committed in the Palestinian Territories in the period beginning in 2014. But she asked that the court issue a pre-trial ruling first on its jurisdiction in cases involving the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.
The decision, announced on Thursday by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, defence secretary, Mark Esper and attorney general, William Barr, targets ICC officials investigating war crimes allegedly committed in Afghanistan by all sides, including the US, and will also see visa restrictions imposed on their families.
I will convene an extraordinary meeting of the Bureau of the Assembly next week to consider how to renew our unwavering commitment to the Court.
I call upon the States Parties and all the stakeholders in the Rome Statute system to reiterate once more our relentless commitment to uphold and defend the principles and values enshrined in the Statute and to preserve its integrity undeterred by any measures and threats against the Court and its officials, staff and their families.
The move was discussed in a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Jerusalem last month, the source said on Thursday.
Der Internationale Strafgerichtshof (IStGH) hat die Strafandrohung von US-Präsident Donald Trump gegen Mitarbeiter des Tribunals als Angriff auf die „Herrschaft des Rechts“ angeprangert. Diese Drohung stelle den „inakzeptablen“ Versuch dar, sich in die Arbeit des Gerichts einzumischen, erklärte der IStGH in der Nacht auf heute in Den Haag.
Das Weltstrafgericht in Den Haag hatte im März geurteilt, dass im Rahmen von Ermittlungen zu mutmaßlichen Kriegsverbrechen in Afghanistan auch gegen CIA-Mitarbeiter ermittelt werden könne. Zu möglichen Kriegsverbrechen in mutmaßlich geheimen Gefangenenlagern der US-Streitkräfte außerhalb von Afghanistan darf die Anklage ebenfalls offiziell ermitteln.
Chefanklägerin Fatou Bensouda hatte die richterliche Zustimmung beantragt, um gegen Verantwortliche für Folter, willkürliche Tötungen, sexuelle Gewalt und andere Kriegsverbrechen vorzugehen, die im Zusammenhang mit dem Krieg in Afghanistan seit 2003 verübt worden seien.
Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has established an unnecessary condition that slows down the process, writes Marjorie Cohn.