Israeli group demands sacking of ICC chief prosecutor

A right-wing Israeli organisation has approached the International Criminal Court in The Hague with a demand that it should sack its chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda. The demand has been made against the backdrop of her decision to open a preliminary investigation into the claims that the Israeli army committed war crimes against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Hayom newspaper reported on Sunday that the Shurat Hadin-Israel Law Centre has “reached out” to the ICC to disqualify its chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, from dealing with matters relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “This follows her remarks about the Palestinian Authority’s plan to promote the UNHRC report as ‘proof’ of ‘Israeli crimes.'”

The newspaper quoted Shurat Hadin’s chairwoman, Nitzana Darshan-Leitner, as saying that the Palestinian demands “designed for PR and to pressure Israel are weak and baseless, and Israel has strong claims that counter and nullify the suit.”

According to Darshan-Leitner, Israel’s hands are tied and it cannot make its arguments before the court because it challenges the authority of the court and sees it as biased. “If [Israel] were to take part in the process, it would be considered an assent to the court’s authority, and it would be required to accept its ruling,” she added.