ICC appeal judges: Court should consider Israel’s jurisdictional challenges

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court on Thursday reversed a November ruling rejecting Israel’s jurisdictional objections to the issuing of arrest warrants for “war crimes” against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant.

“The Appeals Chamber finds that, considered as a whole, the Impugned Decision insufficiently addresses Israel’s central contention that article 19(2)(c) of the [Rome] Statute permits it to challenge the jurisdiction of the Court,” the ruling handed down in The Hague on Thursday read.

“Therefore, the Pre-Trial Chamber committed an error of law by failing to sufficiently direct itself to the relevant submissions brought before it in respect of the particular legal basis underpinning the challenge to the jurisdiction of the court,” the international justices stated on Thursday.

The Pre-Trial Chamber I had ruled against the jurisdictional challenges, saying back in November it was too early to consider such arguments.

The Appeals Chamber sent the case back to the Pre-Trial Chamber for a “new ruling on the substance” on challenges of the court’s jurisdiction.

It did not rule on Jerusalem’s request that the warrants be suspended while the jurisdiction issue is being deliberated, saying that this issue was for the Pre-Trial Chamber to determine.

However, until the lower ICC chamber holds additional hearings on the issue, which could take several months or longer, the legal proceedings against Netanyahu and Gallant will effectively be frozen.

“The ICC Appeals Court instructed the Court today to do what it should have done from the start: to make a determination with respect to jurisdiction,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar responded.

“There is only one correct answer: the Court has no jurisdiction over Israel. The warrants were issued unlawfully. They are null and void,” Jerusalem’s top diplomat tweeted. “We said it from the start: The International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC) doesn’t have, and never had jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister and its former Minister of Defense.”

The warrants, which Israel and the United States, along with other countries, have rejected and dismissed, accuse the Israeli leaders of having committed “crimes against humanity” and “war crimes” between Oct. 8, 2023, and May 20, 2024, in the Gaza Strip. One of the allegations concerns “starvation.”

Israel’s appeal focused on the jurisdiction of the ICC, which operates under the Rome Statute. Israel is not a party to the Statute and is not a member of the ICC, and therefore cannot be tried by it.

The court is basing its jurisdiction on the fact that the Palestinian Authority, registered as “The State of Palestine,” acceded to it in 2015.

©️JNS