“Palestine” has no right to join the International Criminal Court, because there is no Palestinian state in accordance with international law, Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon said Wednesday.
Nachshon said that for this reason, the ICC's prosecutor erred earlier this year in accepting the Palestinian request for a preliminary examination into alleged war crimes stemming from Operation Protective Edge over the summer. His words came on the day that the Palestinians formally joined the court.
“The Palestinian Authority government, which has established a partnership with the murderous Hamas terrorist organization that carries out war crimes like those carried out by Islamic State, is the last one that can threaten to file claims in the international court in the Hague,” he said.
Nachshon called the Palestinian decision to join the court “political, cynical and hypocritical.” He said that Palestinian intentions at the court contradict the goals of the court and will lead to a “destructive politicization” that will harm the stature of the body.
There is no room for the court, established to bring to justice those responsible for the worst crimes and atrocities in the world, to cooperate with those who seek to abuse its limited resources, he said.
Nachshon said that unilateral Palestinian steps, first and foremost joining the ICC, blatantly violated the basic principles agreed upon between the sides to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through negotiations.
These steps, he said, highlight again the Palestinian refusal to conduct peace negotiations with Israel.
“Israel is a democracy that stands at the forefront of the global fight against terrorism while respecting international law,” he said, adding that Israel's effective, independent and widely respected judiciary investigates allegations of criminal wrongdoing.