Newspapers: London's intervention in the International Criminal Court delays Netanyahu's arrest... and experts: political motives

London - The Hague: Agencies
The British newspaper The Guardian said that the UK government’s intervention in the International Criminal Court is expected to delay a decision on whether an arrest warrant can be issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on charges of committing war crimes in Gaza.
The ICC judges ruled on Thursday that they will allow the United Kingdom to present legal arguments in the case while they consider whether to grant requests by the ICC prosecutor to issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Galant. Youm7 news website reported on Saturday. In Cairo
According to court papers, after the prosecutor made the submissions, the UK said the judges hearing the case must deal with “outstanding” questions about the ICC’s jurisdiction over Israeli citizens before deciding whether to issue arrest warrants.
The decision to allow the UK to present arguments in the case has raised concern among some international law experts that Britain's intervention is politically motivated and an attempt to reopen legal issues that many say were previously settled.
In February 2021, a panel of ICC judges issued a ruling confirming the ICC's jurisdiction in the occupied Palestinian territories. The decision paved the way for the former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to open a criminal investigation into alleged atrocities in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
However, the UK government last month informed the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber that the 2021 ruling “did not define” jurisdictional issues relating to the Oslo Accords, the interim peace agreements signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel in the 1990s.
British government lawyers said the judges must therefore "make a preliminary decision" on whether the ICC can exercise jurisdiction over Israeli citizens "in circumstances where Palestine cannot exercise criminal jurisdiction over Israeli citizens under the Oslo Accords."
The newspaper explained that the arguments presented by the United Kingdom reflect the allegations of current and former senior Israeli officials whom it interviewed in recent months. One senior Israeli official insisted that “jurisdiction issues have not been resolved” because Palestine “does not have the powers to delegate [jurisdiction] to the court.”
Experts said the decision to allow the UK to intervene in the case could cause a delay in the arrest warrants issue, although a former ICC official familiar with the 2021 case said jurisdiction issues had been resolved and, if challenged, would be “dead.” Upon arrival". ".
According to Mark Kersten, an ICC expert and professor of criminal justice at the University of the Fraser Valley in Canada, “it would be hard to believe” if the judges decided that Palestine, an ICC member state, “cannot ask the court to address atrocities committed” on its territories due to the faltering Oslo peace process.”

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