Christian Message Boards: Israeli officials are wary as International Criminal Court debuts

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Posted by Kindgo (Member # 2) on :

June 26, 2002

Israeli officials are wary as International Court debuts

By Naomi Segal

JERUSALEM, June 26 (JTA) — After championing the creation of an international criminal court for more than 50 years, Israel is concerned it may become just another tool for bashing the Jewish state.

On July 1, the International Criminal Court, headquartered in The Hague, comes into force with the ability to indict individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war and aggression.

The court is expected to begin functioning in one year, after the selection of judges and a prosecutor who are to be chosen in secret ballot by states that ratified the international statute creating the court.

Israeli officials fear the court will be used to target Israelis — particularly settlers and soldiers — for prosecution.

… For this reason — although Israel signed the statute two years ago to show its support for the court’s moral aims — it has not ratified it.

... Israel also is concerned about possible attempts to bring up war crimes charges in relation to its campaign against Palestinian terrorism.

... Even if a country did not sign the Rome statute, its citizens can be prosecuted under certain conditions.

The criminal court’s jurisdiction will apply to citizens of non-party states if the alleged crime is committed in a country that is party to the statute, if it involves a country that chooses to accept the court’s jurisdiction on an ad hoc basis, or if the U.N. Security Council refers a case to the court.

The court will not have retroactive authority, meaning it will only be able to deal with alleged crimes committed after the court enters into force.

Palestinians cannot lodge complaints with the court because there is no Palestinian state, but Arab countries can.

... among the Arab states, only Jordan has approved the statute.

Israel is taking a wait-and-see attitude before ratifying the statute.

"If we see that the court is not going to function as another U.N.-style, Israel-bashing body, then we might well come to the conclusion that we want to associate ourselves with the court," Baker said.

"We are being assured by countries like Canada and Norway, who are the prime movers, that they won’t permit the court to be misused and abused, because that would be the end of the court," he said.

"We want to see the extent to which they succeed in implementing this. Hopefully, then we will be in a better position to decide."

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