6 june 2019
The Chief Military Advocate General of the Israeli army, Sharon Afek, and the US Department of Defense General Counsel, Paul Ney, shared a platform at the ‘International Conference on the Law of Armed Conflict’, which took place in Herzliya, Israel between May 28-30.
Their panel witnessed some of the most misconstrued interpretations of international law ever recorded. It was as if Afek and Ney were making up their law on warfare and armed conflict, with no regard to what international law stipulates.
Unsurprisingly, both Afek and Ney agreed on many things, including that Israel and the US are blameless in all of their military conflicts, and that they will always be united against any attempt to hold them accountable for war crimes by the International Court of Justice (ICC).
Their tirade against the ICC mirrors that of their leaders. While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s anti-ICC position is familiar, last April, US President Donald Trump virulently expressed his contempt for the global organisation and everything it represents.
“Any attempt to target American, Israeli, or allied personnel for prosecution will be met with a swift and vigorous response,” Trump said in writing on April 12.
While Trump’s (and Netanyahu’s) divisive language is nothing new, Afek and Ney was entrusted with the difficult task of using legal language to explain their countries’ aversion for international law.
Before the Herzliya Conference, Afek addressed the Israel Bar Association convention in Eilat on May 26. Here, too, he made some outlandish claims as he absolved, in advance, Israeli soldiers who kill Palestinians.
“A soldier who is in a life-threatening situation and acts to defend himself (or) others (he) is responsible for, is receiving and will continue receiving full back-up from the Israeli army,” he said.
The above assertion appears far more sinister once we remember Afek’s views on what constitutes a “life-threatening situation”, as he had articulated in Herzliya a few days later.
“Thousands of Gaza’s residents (try) to breach the border fence,” he said, concerning the non-violent March of Return at the fence separating besieged Gaza from Israel.
“The Israel Defense Forces military advocate general, Maj. Gen. Sharon Afek, and the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Defense, Paul Ney:
The International Criminal Court in The Hague has no jurisdiction to deal with our military conduct. https://t.co/VT0w4qUSZD”
— Bassam Shweiki (@BassamShweiki) May 31, 2019
The Gaza protesters “are led by a terrorist organisation that deliberately uses civilians to carry out attacks,” Afek said.
Afek sees unarmed protests in Gaza as a form of terrorism, thus concurring with an earlier statement made by then-Israeli Defense Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, on April 8, 2018, when he declared that “there are no innocents in Gaza.”
Israel’s shoot-to-kill policy, however, is not confined to the Gaza Strip but is also implemented with the same degree of violent enthusiasm in the West Bank.
‘No attacker, male or female, should make it out of any attack alive,’ Lieberman said in 2015. His orders were followed implicitly, as hundreds of Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and Jerusalem for allegedly trying to attack Israeli occupation soldiers or armed illegal Jewish settlers.
Unlike democratic political systems everywhere, in Israel, the occupation soldier becomes the interpreter and enforcer of the law.
Putting this policy into practice in Gaza is even more horrendous as Israeli snipers are often killing unarmed protesters from long distances.
Even journalists and medics have not been spared the same tragic fate as the hundreds of civilians who were killed since the start of the protests in March 2018.
Last February, the United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry on Gaza’s protests concluded that “it has reasonable grounds to believe that during the Great March of Return, Israeli soldiers committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Some of those violations may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity, and must be immediately investigated by Israel.”
In his attack on the ICC at the Herzliya Conference, Afek contended that “Israel is a law-abiding country, with an independent and strong judicial system, and there is no reason for its actions to be scrutinised by the ICC.”
The Israeli General goes on to reprimand the ICC by urging it to focus on “dealing with the main issues for which it was founded.”
Has Afek even read the Rome Statute? The first Article states that the ICC has the “power to exercise its jurisdiction over persons for the most serious crimes of international concern, as referred to in this Statute.”
Article 5 elaborates the nature of these serious crimes, which include: “(a) The crime of genocide; (b) Crimes against humanity; (c) War crimes; (d) The crime of aggression.”
Israel has been accused of at least two of these crimes – war crimes and crimes against humanity – repeatedly, including in the February report by the United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry.
Afek may argue that none of this is relevant to Israel, for the latter is not “a party to the Rome Statute,” therefore, does not fall within ICC’s legal jurisdiction.
Wrong again.
Article 12 [pdf] of the Rome Statute allows for ICC’s jurisdiction in two cases; first, if the State in which the alleged crime has occurred is itself a party of the Statute and, second, if the State where the crime has occurred agrees to submit itself to the jurisdiction of the court.
While it is true that Israel is not a signatory of the Rome Statute, Palestine has, since 2015, agreed to submit itself to the ICC’s jurisdiction.
Moreover, in April 2015, the State of Palestine formally became a member of the ICC, thus giving the court jurisdiction to investigate crimes committed in the Occupied Territories since June 13 2014. These crimes include human rights violations carried out during the Israeli war on Gaza in July-August of the same year.
Afek’s skewed understanding of international law went unchallenged at the Herzliya Conference, as equally misguided interpreters of international law flanked him.
However, nothing proclaimed by Israel’s top military prosecutor or his government will alter the facts. Israeli war crimes must not go unpunished; Israel’s judicial system is untrustworthy, and the ICC has the legal right and moral duty to carry out the will of the international community and hold to account those responsible for war crimes anywhere, including Israel.
~ Middle East Monitor/Days of Palestine
(Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books the last of which is “My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story.”)
Their panel witnessed some of the most misconstrued interpretations of international law ever recorded. It was as if Afek and Ney were making up their law on warfare and armed conflict, with no regard to what international law stipulates.
Unsurprisingly, both Afek and Ney agreed on many things, including that Israel and the US are blameless in all of their military conflicts, and that they will always be united against any attempt to hold them accountable for war crimes by the International Court of Justice (ICC).
Their tirade against the ICC mirrors that of their leaders. While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s anti-ICC position is familiar, last April, US President Donald Trump virulently expressed his contempt for the global organisation and everything it represents.
“Any attempt to target American, Israeli, or allied personnel for prosecution will be met with a swift and vigorous response,” Trump said in writing on April 12.
While Trump’s (and Netanyahu’s) divisive language is nothing new, Afek and Ney was entrusted with the difficult task of using legal language to explain their countries’ aversion for international law.
Before the Herzliya Conference, Afek addressed the Israel Bar Association convention in Eilat on May 26. Here, too, he made some outlandish claims as he absolved, in advance, Israeli soldiers who kill Palestinians.
“A soldier who is in a life-threatening situation and acts to defend himself (or) others (he) is responsible for, is receiving and will continue receiving full back-up from the Israeli army,” he said.
The above assertion appears far more sinister once we remember Afek’s views on what constitutes a “life-threatening situation”, as he had articulated in Herzliya a few days later.
“Thousands of Gaza’s residents (try) to breach the border fence,” he said, concerning the non-violent March of Return at the fence separating besieged Gaza from Israel.
“The Israel Defense Forces military advocate general, Maj. Gen. Sharon Afek, and the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Defense, Paul Ney:
The International Criminal Court in The Hague has no jurisdiction to deal with our military conduct. https://t.co/VT0w4qUSZD”
— Bassam Shweiki (@BassamShweiki) May 31, 2019
The Gaza protesters “are led by a terrorist organisation that deliberately uses civilians to carry out attacks,” Afek said.
Afek sees unarmed protests in Gaza as a form of terrorism, thus concurring with an earlier statement made by then-Israeli Defense Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, on April 8, 2018, when he declared that “there are no innocents in Gaza.”
Israel’s shoot-to-kill policy, however, is not confined to the Gaza Strip but is also implemented with the same degree of violent enthusiasm in the West Bank.
‘No attacker, male or female, should make it out of any attack alive,’ Lieberman said in 2015. His orders were followed implicitly, as hundreds of Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and Jerusalem for allegedly trying to attack Israeli occupation soldiers or armed illegal Jewish settlers.
Unlike democratic political systems everywhere, in Israel, the occupation soldier becomes the interpreter and enforcer of the law.
Putting this policy into practice in Gaza is even more horrendous as Israeli snipers are often killing unarmed protesters from long distances.
Even journalists and medics have not been spared the same tragic fate as the hundreds of civilians who were killed since the start of the protests in March 2018.
Last February, the United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry on Gaza’s protests concluded that “it has reasonable grounds to believe that during the Great March of Return, Israeli soldiers committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Some of those violations may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity, and must be immediately investigated by Israel.”
In his attack on the ICC at the Herzliya Conference, Afek contended that “Israel is a law-abiding country, with an independent and strong judicial system, and there is no reason for its actions to be scrutinised by the ICC.”
The Israeli General goes on to reprimand the ICC by urging it to focus on “dealing with the main issues for which it was founded.”
Has Afek even read the Rome Statute? The first Article states that the ICC has the “power to exercise its jurisdiction over persons for the most serious crimes of international concern, as referred to in this Statute.”
Article 5 elaborates the nature of these serious crimes, which include: “(a) The crime of genocide; (b) Crimes against humanity; (c) War crimes; (d) The crime of aggression.”
Israel has been accused of at least two of these crimes – war crimes and crimes against humanity – repeatedly, including in the February report by the United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry.
Afek may argue that none of this is relevant to Israel, for the latter is not “a party to the Rome Statute,” therefore, does not fall within ICC’s legal jurisdiction.
Wrong again.
Article 12 [pdf] of the Rome Statute allows for ICC’s jurisdiction in two cases; first, if the State in which the alleged crime has occurred is itself a party of the Statute and, second, if the State where the crime has occurred agrees to submit itself to the jurisdiction of the court.
While it is true that Israel is not a signatory of the Rome Statute, Palestine has, since 2015, agreed to submit itself to the ICC’s jurisdiction.
Moreover, in April 2015, the State of Palestine formally became a member of the ICC, thus giving the court jurisdiction to investigate crimes committed in the Occupied Territories since June 13 2014. These crimes include human rights violations carried out during the Israeli war on Gaza in July-August of the same year.
Afek’s skewed understanding of international law went unchallenged at the Herzliya Conference, as equally misguided interpreters of international law flanked him.
However, nothing proclaimed by Israel’s top military prosecutor or his government will alter the facts. Israeli war crimes must not go unpunished; Israel’s judicial system is untrustworthy, and the ICC has the legal right and moral duty to carry out the will of the international community and hold to account those responsible for war crimes anywhere, including Israel.
~ Middle East Monitor/Days of Palestine
(Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books the last of which is “My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story.”)
11 dec 2018
(photo: Palestinians search through the rubble of their destroyed homes hit by Israeli strikes in the northern Gaza Strip in August 2014. UN Photo/Shareef Sarhan)
Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel has submitted a report on the lack of Israeli domestic accountability mechanisms to UN Independent Commission of Inquiry examining 2018 protests in the Gaza Strip.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced, late Wednesday, that significant progress has been made on the preliminary examination into Israeli military actions in the 2014 war and 2018 protests in the Gaza Strip.
In a report just submitted to the United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2018 Protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (COI), Adalah highlighted Israel’s inaction and persistent unwillingness to conduct genuine investigations into grave incidents of suspected war crimes against unarmed Palestinian civilians in both 2014 and 2018.
In its 25-page report filed on 21 November 2018, Adalah concludes that Israel’s persistent unwillingness to conduct genuine investigations or to initiate prosecutions relating to the 2014 Gaza war stresses the need for international intervention to provide remedies and accountability for Palestinian victims of the 2018 protests.
CLICK HERE to read the report [English PDF]
The report analyzes key recommendations and other findings made by three Israeli domestic bodies, the Turkel Commission (2013), the Ciechanover Team (2015), and the State Comptroller’s Office (2018). These bodies have consecutively reviewed and produced findings about the state’s investigatory mechanisms, and all of them identified multiple grave flaws within that system. Although the reports’ recommendations fell short of the requirements of international law, they nevertheless remain unimplemented by the Israeli government.
Adalah’s report follows an initial report to the COI concerning the legal work undertaken by Adalah and Al Mezan from 30 March until the end of May 2018. Adalah’s representatives subsequently met with the members of the commission and investigators to discuss Adalah’s findings and conclusions regarding the lack of Israeli domestic accountability mechanisms for Palestinians in Gaza.
WHAT’S IN ADALAH’S REPORT?
Adalah’s report reviews Israel’s failed policies, practices and investigatory mechanisms in relation to the actions of its military in the 2014 war. According to official UN reports, Israeli troops killed 2,251 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom were civilians, including 299 women and 551 children, and destroyed 18,000 homes and other civilian property, including hospitals and vital infrastructure.
Adalah believes that information on the 2014 war is crucial to the COI in fulfilling its mandate relating to the 2018 protests “to make recommendations, in particular on accountability measures, all with a view to avoiding and ending impunity and ensuring legal accountability, including individual criminal and command responsibility, for such violations and abuses, and on protecting civilians against any further assaults.”
The lack of a sound and functional domestic investigatory system in Israel upholds the culture of impunity that permeates all echelons of Israel’s military and civilian apparatus that determines policy and conduct towards Gaza.
Adalah and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights filed complaints into 28 cases of suspected international humanitarian law violations – including war crimes – committed by the Israeli military in 2014. To date, only three investigations have been opened; of these, two have since been closed and one remains pending. Adalah received no response in five cases; 13 cases were closed without the opening of an investigation, and six are allegedly still under examination. All of these cases involve the killings of Palestinian civilians, including women and children, and extensive damage and destruction to civilian property and infrastructure. No indictments have been issued in any of the cases.
WHAT ARE ADALAH’S CONCLUSIONS?
Opinion/Analysis 12/03/18 Information War between Palestinian Resistance and Israel Heats Up after Botched Raid
Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel has submitted a report on the lack of Israeli domestic accountability mechanisms to UN Independent Commission of Inquiry examining 2018 protests in the Gaza Strip.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced, late Wednesday, that significant progress has been made on the preliminary examination into Israeli military actions in the 2014 war and 2018 protests in the Gaza Strip.
In a report just submitted to the United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2018 Protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (COI), Adalah highlighted Israel’s inaction and persistent unwillingness to conduct genuine investigations into grave incidents of suspected war crimes against unarmed Palestinian civilians in both 2014 and 2018.
In its 25-page report filed on 21 November 2018, Adalah concludes that Israel’s persistent unwillingness to conduct genuine investigations or to initiate prosecutions relating to the 2014 Gaza war stresses the need for international intervention to provide remedies and accountability for Palestinian victims of the 2018 protests.
CLICK HERE to read the report [English PDF]
The report analyzes key recommendations and other findings made by three Israeli domestic bodies, the Turkel Commission (2013), the Ciechanover Team (2015), and the State Comptroller’s Office (2018). These bodies have consecutively reviewed and produced findings about the state’s investigatory mechanisms, and all of them identified multiple grave flaws within that system. Although the reports’ recommendations fell short of the requirements of international law, they nevertheless remain unimplemented by the Israeli government.
Adalah’s report follows an initial report to the COI concerning the legal work undertaken by Adalah and Al Mezan from 30 March until the end of May 2018. Adalah’s representatives subsequently met with the members of the commission and investigators to discuss Adalah’s findings and conclusions regarding the lack of Israeli domestic accountability mechanisms for Palestinians in Gaza.
WHAT’S IN ADALAH’S REPORT?
Adalah’s report reviews Israel’s failed policies, practices and investigatory mechanisms in relation to the actions of its military in the 2014 war. According to official UN reports, Israeli troops killed 2,251 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom were civilians, including 299 women and 551 children, and destroyed 18,000 homes and other civilian property, including hospitals and vital infrastructure.
Adalah believes that information on the 2014 war is crucial to the COI in fulfilling its mandate relating to the 2018 protests “to make recommendations, in particular on accountability measures, all with a view to avoiding and ending impunity and ensuring legal accountability, including individual criminal and command responsibility, for such violations and abuses, and on protecting civilians against any further assaults.”
The lack of a sound and functional domestic investigatory system in Israel upholds the culture of impunity that permeates all echelons of Israel’s military and civilian apparatus that determines policy and conduct towards Gaza.
Adalah and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights filed complaints into 28 cases of suspected international humanitarian law violations – including war crimes – committed by the Israeli military in 2014. To date, only three investigations have been opened; of these, two have since been closed and one remains pending. Adalah received no response in five cases; 13 cases were closed without the opening of an investigation, and six are allegedly still under examination. All of these cases involve the killings of Palestinian civilians, including women and children, and extensive damage and destruction to civilian property and infrastructure. No indictments have been issued in any of the cases.
WHAT ARE ADALAH’S CONCLUSIONS?
- Israel’s system of investigating suspected international law violations by its military is unfit for purpose and falls far short of compliance with international standards of independence, impartiality, effectiveness, promptness and transparency;
- The chronic failings of its investigatory system allows illegal conduct by Israeli military personnel to continue with a wide margin of impunity;
- For six years, Israeli domestic bodies have issued reports and recommendations for improvements to the investigatory system, all of which have both fallen short of the requirements international law, and remain ink on paper, in what appears to be an empty exercise designed to present a facade of action and good intentions;
- According to Israeli official data, over 91% of the “exceptional incidents” received by Israel’s Military Advocate General involving alleged IHL violations in Gaza in 2014 have not been investigated, and no commander or soldier was prosecuted for grave violations of IHL;
- Thus, Article 17 of the Rome Statute may give authority to the ICC to open investigations into these matters, in fulfillment of the principle of complementarity.
- The ongoing situation of inaction at the domestic level and the demonstrated, persistent unwillingness of Israel to conduct genuine investigations or to initiate prosecutions create a pressing need for international actors to step in to provide remedies and accountability for Palestinian victims of the 2018 protests.
Opinion/Analysis 12/03/18 Information War between Palestinian Resistance and Israel Heats Up after Botched Raid
6 dec 2018
Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda is investigating complaints concerning alleged war crimes by Israel during the 2014 Operation Protective Edge, the 2018 Gaza border incidents, as well as settlement construction and home demolitions in the West Bank.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague has reported significant progress in its preliminary investigation into a complaint filed by the Palestinians for war crimes allegedly committed by Israel in the 2014 Operation Protective Edge, during the 2018 protests on the Gaza border and over the construction of settlements and the demolition of houses in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
However, Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in the report she has not yet decided whether to open an official investigation and nor whether she has the authority to deal with the Palestinian issue.
Bensouda's report states that during the "March of Return" campaign that began in March 2018 along the Israel-Gaza border, IDF soldiers used lethal as well as non-lethal force against the protesters and have caused the deaths of 170 people, including 30 children, and wounded more than 19,000.
Among those wounded were also medical aid workers and journalists, according to the report.
However, Bensouda also noted that "while most of the demonstrators engaged in non-violent protest and remained a few hundred meters away from the border fence, some of them entered the immediate area of the fence and were involved in violent activities such as rocket fire, Molotov cocktails and explosive devices, they launched incendiary balloons and kites into Israel and tried to infiltrate Israeli territory."
"Israel claims that Hamas and other armed groups initiated a violent confrontation and exploited the protest as a cover for terrorist activity... while making use of the civilian population as a human shield for their military activities," she wrote. "However, the IDF's rules of engagement and the claims of excessive and lethal use of force by the Israeli security forces in the context of the demonstrations elicited harsh criticism from, among others, UN officials and several international NGOs."
The prosecutor noted the UN Human Rights Council's decision to establish a body to investigate allegations of violations of international law by Israel in connection with the demonstrations. The IDF has stated that it will conduct internal investigations into incidents in which protesters were shot.
Bensouda also noted that her office received information about other crimes allegedly committed by senior Israeli officials in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, which could possibly be classified as crimes against humanity; in particular, allegations of persecution, expulsion of civilians and accusations of apartheid.
In addition, the prosecutor's office received accusations that Palestinian security and intelligence agents operating in the West Bank committed crimes against civilians held in PA detention facilities. These and other crimes, she noted, require further investigation.
Regarding the situation in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the report emphasized that the Israeli government consistently claims that settlement activity is legal, while on the other hand, the Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that the government's settlement policy is not justiciable.
The prosecutor's office examined several Supreme Court decisions that examined the legality of certain government activities relating to the settlements. In addition, the office examined whether, based on existing information, alleged crimes committed in the West Bank since June 2014 were serious enough to warrant opening an investigation, particularly with regards to their scope, nature, and impact on the victims and communities.
In April 2018, shortly after the start of the March of Return campaign, Bensouda issued a statement expressing deep concern over the violence escalating in the Gaza Strip and called for its cessation.
On October 17, she issued another statement expressing concern about Israel's intention to dismantle the Bedouin settlement in Khan al-Ahmar in the West Bank, as well as the continued violence by both sides along the Gaza-Israel border.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement: "The annual report of the prosecutor's office on preliminary examinations has only just been published, and we are studying it. Recalling that Israel is not a member of the International Criminal Court, and our unequivocal position is that the tribunal has no authority to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, inter alia, since the PA is not a state. We expect that at the end of the preliminary examination the prosecutor will confirm this."
The International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague has reported significant progress in its preliminary investigation into a complaint filed by the Palestinians for war crimes allegedly committed by Israel in the 2014 Operation Protective Edge, during the 2018 protests on the Gaza border and over the construction of settlements and the demolition of houses in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
However, Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in the report she has not yet decided whether to open an official investigation and nor whether she has the authority to deal with the Palestinian issue.
Bensouda's report states that during the "March of Return" campaign that began in March 2018 along the Israel-Gaza border, IDF soldiers used lethal as well as non-lethal force against the protesters and have caused the deaths of 170 people, including 30 children, and wounded more than 19,000.
Among those wounded were also medical aid workers and journalists, according to the report.
However, Bensouda also noted that "while most of the demonstrators engaged in non-violent protest and remained a few hundred meters away from the border fence, some of them entered the immediate area of the fence and were involved in violent activities such as rocket fire, Molotov cocktails and explosive devices, they launched incendiary balloons and kites into Israel and tried to infiltrate Israeli territory."
"Israel claims that Hamas and other armed groups initiated a violent confrontation and exploited the protest as a cover for terrorist activity... while making use of the civilian population as a human shield for their military activities," she wrote. "However, the IDF's rules of engagement and the claims of excessive and lethal use of force by the Israeli security forces in the context of the demonstrations elicited harsh criticism from, among others, UN officials and several international NGOs."
The prosecutor noted the UN Human Rights Council's decision to establish a body to investigate allegations of violations of international law by Israel in connection with the demonstrations. The IDF has stated that it will conduct internal investigations into incidents in which protesters were shot.
Bensouda also noted that her office received information about other crimes allegedly committed by senior Israeli officials in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, which could possibly be classified as crimes against humanity; in particular, allegations of persecution, expulsion of civilians and accusations of apartheid.
In addition, the prosecutor's office received accusations that Palestinian security and intelligence agents operating in the West Bank committed crimes against civilians held in PA detention facilities. These and other crimes, she noted, require further investigation.
Regarding the situation in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the report emphasized that the Israeli government consistently claims that settlement activity is legal, while on the other hand, the Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that the government's settlement policy is not justiciable.
The prosecutor's office examined several Supreme Court decisions that examined the legality of certain government activities relating to the settlements. In addition, the office examined whether, based on existing information, alleged crimes committed in the West Bank since June 2014 were serious enough to warrant opening an investigation, particularly with regards to their scope, nature, and impact on the victims and communities.
In April 2018, shortly after the start of the March of Return campaign, Bensouda issued a statement expressing deep concern over the violence escalating in the Gaza Strip and called for its cessation.
On October 17, she issued another statement expressing concern about Israel's intention to dismantle the Bedouin settlement in Khan al-Ahmar in the West Bank, as well as the continued violence by both sides along the Gaza-Israel border.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement: "The annual report of the prosecutor's office on preliminary examinations has only just been published, and we are studying it. Recalling that Israel is not a member of the International Criminal Court, and our unequivocal position is that the tribunal has no authority to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, inter alia, since the PA is not a state. We expect that at the end of the preliminary examination the prosecutor will confirm this."
