Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

White House Slams Palestinian ICC Push as ‘Counterproductive’

The White House said efforts to have Israel charged with war crimes at the International Criminal Court are “counterproductive” and would be opposed by Washington.

The statement came hours after Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki handed ICC prosecutors a file detailing alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza and describing construction in the West Bank settlements and east Jerusalem, the Associated Press reported Friday.

Image by Getty Images

The United States has “made clear that we oppose actions against Israel at the ICC as counterproductive,” National Security Council spokesman Alistair Baskey said after the Palestinians submitted their evidence in The Hague.

The file, based on findings by a Palestinian commission of inquiry and information from non-government groups, is directed toward a preliminary investigation by ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda into possible crimes on Palestinian territory.

Israel earlier slammed the Palestinian move, calling it an “attempt to manipulate and politicize the judicial mechanisms of the ICC.”

“We hope that the prosecutor will not fall in that trap,” said Emmanuel Nahshon, spokesman of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Bensouda’s initial probe aims to establish if there is enough evidence to merit opening a full-scale investigation that could ultimately lead to charges against both Israelis and Palestinians. It is not clear how long the process will take.

Malki said the information forms “a compelling case for the prompt opening of an investigation.”

He said it includes details on Israel’s settlements and military offensive throughout the Palestinian-claimed territories, particularly last year’s Gaza war, and also outlined allegations of crimes committed against Palestinian prisoners.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.