AN Israeli legal advocacy group told the International Criminal Court (ICC) it did not have the authority to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as requested by the tribunal's chief prosecutor Kharim Khan last May. The ICC asked nine Palestinian groups and two Israeli groups to submit their opinion before making the decision.
Shurat HaDin, an NGO founded in Tel Aviv in 2003, was the only Israeli one to be allowed to present claims on behalf of the October 7 massacre victims .
According to the report submitted by the Shurat HaDin, the tribunal has no jurisdiction to deal with the Palestinian petition, and any attempt to intervene will hinder Israeli victims' efforts.
The organization's detailed document states that the court lacks jurisdiction in this case since the Palestinian Authority (PA)is not a member of the Rome Convention from upon which the court was founded, and it is not defined as a "state" that can join the convention.
The PA also does not have criminal jurisdiction over Israelis, so it cannot delegate this authority to the court. Accepting that the PA might enforce criminal jurisdiction over Israelis put more lives at risk, with more potential attacks.
Karim Khan in his historic statement
(Video: ICC)
In addition, the organization sought to reveal the prosecution's bias against Israel. It was argued that according to the Rome Convention, the prosecutor had to comply with the principle of complementarity, according to which the accused state has the right to investigate any allegation before the tribunal decides to step in.
Israel should have been allowed to address false claims such as "starvation" in Gaza. The court failed to work according to procedure, preventing the cooperation with the Israeli authorities, and harming the investigation against Hamas and Israel.
Another central argument was around the prosecutor's "blatant bias" against Israel, referring to his attempt to create false moral equivalence between Hamas' crimes against humanity and Israel's consequent war on Hamas. The organization claimed that the prosecutor should have acted immediately against Hamas, especially due to the hostages' state. Shurat HaDin turned to the prosecutor immediately after the massacre and demanded the issuance of an arrest warrant against Sinwar, which according to the Rome Convention was intended to "prevent the person from continuing to commit this crime."
Shurat Hadin also claimed that the prosecutor overlooked many terrible atrocities that were carried out on October 7, including murder, rape, and torture, and issued arrest warrants only for the kidnappings. The organization also said that the prosecutor ignored the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's participation in the October 7 massacre where it also kidnapped innocent Israeli civilians.
"We explained the truth to the court judges: the prosecutor was asked immediately after the massacre to issue immediate arrest warrants against the leaders of Hamas holding the hostages, but he did nothing, not on the first day, not on the 50th day, and not even on the 100th day," Shurat Hadin head Nitzana Darshan-Leitner said. "He waited no less than 227 days, during which he knew that the hostages continued to suffer the most terrible atrocities, including sexual abuse and torture, and issued orders just now for the sake of balance due to the warrants he longs to issue against Israel," she added.