Middle East Monitor / February 9, 2021
Israel has launched an international campaign to put pressure on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in order to stop it investigating Israeli war crimes against Palestinians, Al-Watan Voice reported yesterday.
Quoting Israeli website Walla!, Al-Watan Voice said that the Israeli Foreign Ministry had sent a secret message to scores of Israeli embassies around the world with directives related to the ICC ruling which said the international body has jurisdiction to look into possible war crimes carried out in the occupied Palestinian territories by occupation forces.
It also reported senior Israeli officials saying that Tel Aviv plans to ask scores of countries around the world to send messages to ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asking her not to go ahead with the probe.
On Friday, the ICC ruled that it has the jurisdiction to investigate potential war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories, including occupied Jerusalem, the West Bank, and besieged Gaza Strip.
