The Palestinians officially submitted a request to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday alleging war crimes charges against Israel, even as their own people continue incitement and acts of terror against Israel. Ofir Gendelman, spokesperson for the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, noted this dichotomy in a series of Twitter posts responding to the ICC submission.
“It is absurd that the Palestinian actions vis-à-vis the Court come at a time when the Palestinians continue to incite to acts of terrorism, while exploiting women and children as human shields for violent attacks against the security of Israel’s citizens,” tweeted Gendelman. In a separate post he noted the Palestinians “continue to exploit the Court for political purposes, rather than work towards resuming the peace process with Israel.”
As an example of that ongoing incitement, Gendelman later posted an photo of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas published by Abbas’ office showing him reading a newspaper with a vicious cartoon on the back depicting an Israeli soldier feeding poison to a Palestinian baby.
Commenting on the image, Gendelman tweeted, “Zoom in on the racist cartoon on the backpage of the PA’s OFFICIAL paper, reminiscent of Nazi cartoons. The ‘moderate’ leader made sure that anti-Semitism is alive & well in the PA.”
The United States also opposes the Palestinian submission to the Court. Spokesperson Heather Nauert, in comments on Tuesday published by the State Department, said, “We oppose actions against Israel at the International Criminal Court because it doesn’t help the cause for peace.”
The anti-Israel claims made by the Palestinians to the ICC, according to a report in the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency, center around Israeli home development in the Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria—which is claimed by the Palestinians as the “West Bank”. The Palestinian buy viagra 100mg online uk Foreign Affairs Ministry was quoted in the article as claiming the that Israeli “settlement” and efforts to sustain it is the “most dangerous threat to Palestinian lives, livelihoods, and national rights.” The libel went on to allege Israel is guilty of “crimes against humanity” and torture.
The Palestinian Authority should probably look to their rival Palestinian Authority government for a real example of war crimes. The Hamas organization that rules Gaza has been encouraging their own people to assault the security fence with Israel and attack the Israeli military, while using the riots as cover to conduct acts of terrorism.
Furthermore, Gendelman posted a video to Twitter on Wednesday showing the leader of Hamas saying in an interview that his group has good relations with the Hezbollah terrorist organization and Iran, while praying for a united front by this axis.
Tweeted Gendelman in response to the video, “Hamas’ leader Yihya Sinwar says openly that Hamas is closely cooperating w/ Iran and Hezbollah. Iran is the world’s #1 state sponsor of terrorism. It occupies 4 Arab capitals & murdered hundreds of thousands in the region. Hamas serves Iran’s terrorism, not the people of Gaza!”
The good news for Israel is that the ICC will find it difficult to adjudicate the Palestinian claims, since Israel has not submitted itself to the court’s jurisdiction and the PA is not an actual state—one of which must be true in order to submit a claim. Gendelman called the Palestinian action “legally invalid” as a result.
Tweeted Gendelman, “Israel expects the ICC and its Prosecutor not to yield to Palestinian pressure, and stand firm against continued Palestinian efforts to politicize the Court and to derail it from its mandate.”
He continued, “Israel acts in accordance with independent and thorough judicial review mechanisms, befitting a democratic state, and in accordance with international law.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, May 23, 2018)